Milldam Monthly

Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News

This week’s Zoning In makes one thing clear: opposition to data center development is no longer just a local land-use fight; it’s becoming a durable political force that will carry straight into 2026. From city councils rejecting projects despite heavy lobbying to moratoria, lawsuits, recalls, and even candidate recruitment efforts explicitly aimed at stopping data centers, community pushback is reshaping elections and policy conversations at every level. What’s especially striking is how this resistance is […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly

This week’s Zoning In highlights how quickly the national conversation around AI infrastructure is shifting. Last night, Chandler made headlines with a unanimous vote rejecting a $2B AI data center after overwhelming community pushback. Next week, Nvidia will host a private summit to address the power shortages that are now slowing AI growth. Across the country, Palm Beach County has paused a major hyperscale proposal, Virginia lawmakers are moving to restrict siting and tax breaks, […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News

This week’s Zoning In highlights how quickly pushback—and now litigation—is reshaping the data center landscape. National advocacy groups are assembling new legal tools to challenge AI facilities, as Amazon exits Tucson’s Project Blue, Michigan logs 5,000 public comments on a 1.4-GW power deal, and West Shreveport’s MPC rejects a 2.8-million-sq-ft campus. From Brandon, MS, to Hanover, VA, to Meta’s El Paso AI build, communities are demanding hard numbers on water, power, noise, and grid costs—and […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly

Communities across the country intensified their pushback against large data center projects this week, led by a viral TikTok in Kenosha that quickly grew into a 20,000-signature petition opposing Microsoft’s plans. From Illinois to North Carolina, residents raised fresh concerns about water use, noise, land conversion, and a lack of transparency, often learning about massive developments only after key decisions had already been made. Several reports highlighted how nondisclosure agreements and limited public disclosure continue […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly

This week’s Zoning In tracks a surge of community protests, legal reversals, and ballot-box consequences. In Virginia, residents again rallied against new facilities and Dominion’s six-mile transmission line just as the Digital Gateway project won a temporary reprieve in court — and data centers became a defining issue in statewide elections. Across Springdale, PA and Ypsilanti, MI, environmental justice and transparency debates are reshaping how local leaders weigh promises of investment against noise, water, and […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News

As local moratoria spread from Georgia to Virginia to the Midwest, a new AP–NORC poll reveals something striking: Americans are now more worried about the environmental impact of AI and data centers than they are about aviation, meat production, or cryptocurrency. This week’s Zoning In tracks a growing disconnect between industry momentum and community confidence. Dozens of projects remain paused or withdrawn amid questions about water, power, and transparency — from Jones County’s 90-day moratorium […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News

This week’s Zoning In highlights some of the hottest flashpoints in the national data center debate: township denials in Michigan, strained emergency services in Ohio, calls for public forums in Oregon, a potential moratorium in St. Louis, and environmental justice concerns in Georgia and Alabama. Communities are increasingly framing these projects around issues of water, power, noise, transparency, and equity. At the same time, broader political currents are beginning to converge. On September 20, hundreds […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News, Outreach

This week’s lead story: St. Charles, Missouri, has become the first U.S. city to enact a citywide moratorium on data centers. The one-year ban underscores a growing wave of data center community resistance that has already stalled or stopped more than $64 billion in projects across 24 states. At the same time, in Arizona, Project Blue has resurfaced — Beale Infrastructure is pressing ahead in Pima County even after Tucson blocked water access and residents […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News

This week’s Zoning In highlights how community opposition is evolving from town halls to the ballot box. In Georgia, a newly formed Political Action Committee is targeting pro–data center commissioners, signaling that opposition groups are sharpening their tools to influence not just projects, but politics itself. Across the country, we also saw projects delayed, withdrawn, or re-zoned amid protests in Virginia, Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri. Meanwhile, watchdogs and regulators are weighing in on the […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly

This week’s Zoning In roundup underscores a growing reality: the U.S. data center boom is no longer just an industry story — it’s a political, environmental, and community flashpoint. From NASCAR country in North Carolina to the deserts of Arizona, rural Georgia, and booming Richmond, VA, projects are colliding with concerns over water, energy, noise, and land use. Local governments are tightening zoning codes, residents are organizing against mega-campuses, and states are rethinking incentives to […]

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