Mahwah, N.J., Data Center Ban Would Not Reach Crossroads Site, Planning Board Attorney Says; Council Hearing Oct. 26

MAHWAH, N.J. — Mahwah’s proposed ban on “hyperscale” data centers would not reach the Crossroads redevelopment area, where a township redevelopment plan already permits data centers, the Planning Board’s attorney said at the board’s Oct. 19 meeting.

“Crossroads is not subject to this ordinance, because Crossroads is subject to a redevelopment plan,” the attorney told residents during the board’s Oct. 19 meeting, according to the township’s video of the session. “This ordinance does not apply to Crossroads.” The board’s planner agreed: “That is my understanding.”

The board then voted 7-0 on a roll call that Ordinance No. 2105 is “not inconsistent” with Mahwah’s master plan. That clears the way for a Township Council public hearing and possible final vote on Monday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. at the Richard J. Martel Municipal Center, 475 Corporate Drive, according to the township’s published hearing notice.

What the ordinance does

Ordinance 2105 was introduced by the Township Council on Oct. 12, by a 7-0 vote, according to the township’s video of that meeting and the hearing notice. Its title says it would define “data center” and “hyperscale data center” in the zoning code and “prohibit high-density (‘hyperscale’) data centers in all zoning districts of the township pending completion of a Planning Board study and master plan reexamination addressing land use, utility capacity, water, noise, and environmental impacts.”

Officials described the line between the two as 50 megawatts of electrical load. Data centers below that size, which the code has long allowed as “computation centers,” remain permitted in two zones, OP-200 and ORP-200, and would still need site plan review, board officials said. The ORP-200 zone is the MacArthur Boulevard area, according to the planner.

The full text of Ordinance 2105 is in the agenda packet the township posted for the Oct. 26 council meeting. It defines a hyperscale data center as one with “a total electric load greater than fifty (50) megawatts” and says “Hyperscale data centers are a prohibited use in all zone districts.” To stop a project from getting under the line by splitting it up, it adds together the load of buildings on the same lot, on neighboring lots that share electrical, cooling, water or security systems, or in any phased “common scheme or plan of development.” It also says no “division, subdivision, phasing, leasing” or other structure meant to avoid the threshold will work.

The ordinance exempts only two things: server rooms that are accessory to another permitted use and stay under the threshold, and facilities that federal or state law takes out of local control. The text does not mention Crossroads or redevelopment plans. It says the township “presently hosts one or more lawfully established data center and colocation facilities,” which “are not the subject of this Ordinance.”

The ordinance points to New York as one reason for acting now. It cites a July 14, 2026 executive order by New York’s governor that put new hyperscale data centers on hold in that state, and says the pause “creates a present and specific incentive for the redirection of such projects into the Township.” It directs the Planning Board to report its recommendations for permanent rules by June 30, 2027. The study must cover noise, water use from the Ramapo River basin, electric capacity on Rockland Electric Company lines, backup generators, traffic, and how any request for a payment in lieu of taxes should be handled.

Why Crossroads is different

Crossroads is about 140 acres at the Interstate 287 and Route 17 interchange, including the property known as the Sheraton Hotel and Crossroads Corporate Center, according to the township’s 2022 redevelopment plan. It is governed by that plan rather than the general zoning code.

At Monday’s meeting, the board’s attorney said the plan, which he said has “probably been revised five times,” “includes the ability to construct, quote, data centers” and “does not specify regular or hyperscale.” He said the plan has allowed data centers “undefined” on the property “for several years.” He added that the plan grew out of affordable-housing court settlements. Beyond a new application from the developer, he said, “the developer and the township would have to very likely agree on changes to the redevelopment plan.” Later in the discussion, he referred to “the vested rights that the owner has by virtue of the settlement agreement.”

The attorney said the only approved application for the site is for two warehouses, and that no one has applied to build a data center there. A developer who wanted one would have to file a new application, and the public could comment at the board, he said. Could the owner apply for a hyperscale data center there? “Hypothetically, they could come in and apply for a new plan that has a hyperscale data center. They certainly could do that,” he said. That would probably start “a whole lot of discussions” about what the original language meant, he added. “I don’t know what they’ll file. I don’t know what the township’s response would be.”

One member of the public said they had thought the ordinance was “completely dealing with Crossroads,” and that hearing it was not “just reaffirms my belief that … we could be in a lot of trouble.” “This thing has nothing to do with that thing,” a speaker at the board table said, adding that data centers have been permitted at Crossroads for about five years and that no one has applied to build one.

The question came up at the council as well. When the ordinance was introduced on Oct. 12, a council member read from the Crossroads plan’s land-use section, which lists “data center” as a permitted use, and asked whether the owner could sue if the township tried to take that use away. “I’d have to look at the agreement. I can’t just give you an off the cuff answer to that question,” the attorney at the dais replied. Later in that discussion, the attorney said data centers over 50 megawatts are not generally permitted in Mahwah, “except at the Crossroads where they are permitted.” That exchange begins at about 1:04:49 in the township’s Oct. 12 video.

Why 50 megawatts

At the Oct. 12 introduction, a council member said 50 megawatts was too high and asked that it be lowered. The response from the dais was that the ordinance committee chose 50 so that a data center already operating in town could expand, and that when the township’s planner talked with the state Highlands planners, they “were looking around the 50 megawatt limit” too. “They haven’t done anything yet,” the speaker added. The same speaker called the ordinance a first step that gives the Planning Board room to recommend what the town should do. The council made two small changes at introduction. It moved the Planning Board study deadline from March 31 to June 30, and it adjusted the wording of the 50-megawatt aggregation definition.

At Monday’s Planning Board meeting, a Miller Road resident urged the board to consider a lower threshold, such as 30 megawatts, which she said environmental groups recommend. Board officials said the only question before them that night was whether the ordinance was consistent with the master plan, and that the threshold would be examined in the study, which a board official said is due “next summer.” “Fundamentally the question is, is 50 the right line? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but we’re not really equipped to come up with that,” a board member said before the vote.

What happens next

• Oct. 26, 7 p.m.: Township Council public hearing and possible adoption of Ordinance 2105. The Planning Board said it will send the council a letter with its finding, and possibly a resolution later. If adopted, the ordinance takes effect 20 days after final passage and publication, according to its text. The same agenda also has a hearing on Ordinance 2106, which would cancel the $5,842,500 bond ordinance adopted Oct. 20, 2025 for a new Department of Public Works garage. The ordinance says no bonds or notes were ever issued under it.
• By June 30, 2027: The Planning Board study and master plan reexamination. A board official said a Planning Board subcommittee would likely be discussed “at the beginning of next year.”

Open questions

• Will the council amend the Crossroads redevelopment plan, or seek an agreement with the owner, to address hyperscale data centers there?
• Does the Crossroads plan set any size, power or water limit on a data center?

Sources: Mahwah Planning Board meeting video and agenda, Oct. 19, 2026; Mahwah Township Council meeting video, Oct. 12, 2026; Notice of Public Hearing, Ordinance No. 2105 (Township Clerk); text of Ordinances 2105 and 2106 in the Oct. 26, 2026 council agenda packet; Mahwah Crossroads Redevelopment Plan (Dec. 2022). Quotes are transcribed from the township’s videos; we checked them against the official captions.