Two weeks into the New Year, 2026 is already picking up exactly where 2025 left off—contentious, politicized, and increasingly unforgiving for data center development done on autopilot. This week’s Zoning In shows opposition accelerating across multiple fronts at once: environmental groups challenging utility planning at the state level, auditors undercutting economic impact claims, lawmakers floating moratoria, and local governments are hitting pause while they scramble to update zoning codes. What’s notable isn’t just the volume […]
Milldam News
Adam Waitkunas Catches Up With Bisnow on How Power, Politics, and AI Will Shape Data Center Development in 2026
Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas recently spoke with Bisnow as part of its annual outlook on the forces shaping data center development in 2026. The wide-ranging piece explores how artificial intelligence, power constraints, capital discipline, and politics are reshaping where and how data centers get built. In the article, Adam highlights a critical shift underway across the industry: community opposition to data centers is no longer an isolated, local entitlement risk. Instead, it is becoming more organized, […]
Zoning In
Happy New Year! This week’s Zoning In captures a pattern that’s no longer emerging—it’s now the baseline. Across the country, data center development is colliding with a more organized and politically savvy opposition, as well as a growing chorus of scrutiny from state and federal policymakers. From proposals that quietly stall after securing incentives, to jurisdictions pushing projects forward despite intense public opposition, the dynamic is clear: communities are demanding transparency, elected officials are chasing […]
Special Holiday Edition of Zoning In
As we wrap up the year, we wish you a happy holiday season and a healthy, prosperous New Year. This abbreviated Holiday Edition of Zoning In includes year-end analysis from Adam Waitkunas on how data center community relations reached an inflection point in 2025—and what the industry must do differently in the year ahead. Data Center Community Engagement Comes of Age In 2025, community opposition to data center development crossed a critical threshold, evolving from […]
Zoning In
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 […]
Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas Attends 7×24 SoCal Holiday Party
Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas, a board member of the 7×24 Exchange Southern California Chapter, joined colleagues at last week’s 7×24 SoCal Holiday Party by the Marina in Huntington Beach, celebrating another successful year with the Southern California data center community. Looking ahead, the 7×24 SoCal Chapter is planning a strong slate of educational events in 2026, along with its popular annual charity golf tournament on March 30.
Zoning In
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 […]
Zoning In
This week’s Zoning In highlights a surge in oversight efforts — from Michigan environmental groups filing a case against a 1.4-GW proposal to Georgia adopting statewide review rules and Prince George’s County unveiling one of the most aggressive regulatory frameworks to date. Meanwhile, pushback remains strong in places like Wisconsin, Kansas City, and Essex, where residents are raising concerns around water use, rising utility rates, diesel emissions, and transparency. We also tracked several major flashpoints, […]
Zoning In
This week delivered one of the sharpest warnings yet that the U.S. data center surge is meeting organized, highly effective community resistance. From Virginia to Georgia, officials are tightening zoning regulations, demanding water and power disclosures, and pausing approvals as residents push back against diesel generators, rising utility costs, and closed-door negotiations. In a major shift, the Virginia Court of Appeals halted all construction on the PW Digital Gateway pending a citizen-led legal challenge. And […]
Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas Participates in EUCI’s Data Center & Utility Conference
Earlier this week, Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas presented in Denver at EUCI’s Data Center Project Development Due Diligence for Utilities & Developers, where he spoke about the increasingly critical role of community relations in data center development. Adam’s session focused on how thoughtful, proactive engagement can reduce risk, build trust, and create smoother pathways for both developers and utilities—especially as projects face heightened scrutiny at the local level. Adam also joined the event’s concluding panel with […]








