Milldam Minute

Zoning In

Zoning In

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

This week’s Zoning In shows just how quickly the data center debate is moving from community concern to concrete political and regulatory action. California enacted seven new data center laws, Texas expanded its permitting pause, Prince William County ended new by-right development, and communities from Chicago and Oakland to Colorado, Oregon and New Hampshire are considering or adopting moratoriums. Maryland, meanwhile, is building community engagement, transparency and community benefits directly into its statewide review framework. […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam News

This week’s Zoning In points to a more challenging environment for data center development — and especially community engagement. The headline number is hard to ignore: a new UMass Amherst poll found that just 11% of Americans support an AI data center in their community, while 65% oppose one. Perhaps more significant, that opposition cuts across political and demographic lines and is driven largely by tangible local concerns around natural resources, land use, disruption and […]

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Data Center Backlash Is Becoming a Financial Risk

Data Center Backlash Is Becoming a Financial Risk

in Milldam Minute

As lenders scrutinize community opposition, developers may increasingly need to demonstrate community readiness before securing capital By: Romi Blackstone For years, community engagement in data center development was largely viewed as a public affairs issue. Developers needed to explain their projects. Residents needed an opportunity to ask questions. Local officials needed to understand the economic benefits. And communications professionals were brought in to help navigate the conversation. But that equation is changing. As opposition to […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

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

This week’s Zoning In shows just how quickly the rules around data center development are changing. From moratoriums and rejected projects to lawsuits, tougher NDA policies, and new requirements around community benefits, public opposition is increasingly driving public policy. Massachusetts may offer a glimpse of what comes next, with new rules requiring community benefit agreements and effectively giving host communities a greater say over whether projects move forward. Unless the industry takes the bull by […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

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

This week’s Zoning In shows how quickly data center opposition is moving beyond local zoning fights and becoming a financial, political, and industry-wide risk. Banks and investors are beginning to factor in community resistance, project delays, and even uncertainty about long-term AI demand into financing decisions, while Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel publicly acknowledged the growing pushback. At the same time, President Trump’s criticism of data center opponents drew bipartisan rebukes in Kentucky, and voters […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Client News, Milldam Minute, Milldam News

This week’s Zoning In is another reminder that data center projects are increasingly being judged not only on their own merits, but on the missteps of projects hundreds of miles away. NDAs, poor communication, noise complaints and permitting disputes are feeding a broader narrative of distrust — and that baggage can follow developers into a community before a project is even introduced. At the same time, opposition groups are sharing tactics, hiring attorneys, holding their […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly, Milldam News

Things continue to heat up for the data center industry, with this week’s headlines showing community opposition evolving into a much broader financial, political and regulatory challenge. Reuters reports that lenders are now factoring community support into financing decisions, while major projects face lawsuits in Missouri and Georgia, a gigawatt-scale development was withdrawn outside Atlanta, and Chicago and San Antonio are considering new moratoriums. The political pressure is also becoming harder to ignore. All three […]

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Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas Joins Loudoun County’s Buddy Rizer on Data Center Frontier Podcast to Discuss Data Center Community Engagement 

Milldam’s Adam Waitkunas Joins Loudoun County’s Buddy Rizer on Data Center Frontier Podcast to Discuss Data Center Community Engagement 

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

Milldam Public Relations’ President, Adam Waitkunas recently  joined Loudoun County Economic Development Executive Director Buddy Rizer and Data Center Frontier Editor Matt Vincent for a discussion on one of the most significant challenges facing the rapidly expanding data center industry: community trust. The Data Center Frontier podcast, “The Next Data Center Constraint: Trust,” examines how community acceptance and political durability are increasingly influencing where—and whether—new data center projects get built. As Waitkunas and Rizer discussed, […]

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When The Data Center Community Engagement Consultant Becomes The Story

When The Data Center Community Engagement Consultant Becomes The Story

in Milldam Minute

The Eric Adams appearance in Wisconsin is the latest reminder that local trust has to be earned. By Adam Waitkunas Every few weeks, the data center industry seems to provide another reminder that community engagement isn’t just another box to check before the permitting process begins. This week, it happened in Wisconsin Rapids. Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams took the stage on behalf of a proposed 209-acre data center development. Before he could […]

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Zoning In

Zoning In

in Milldam Minute, Milldam Monthly

If there was a single theme this week, it was that community engagement is becoming just as important as power, land and fiber—and this week’s headlines provided no shortage of examples of what not to do. From Wisconsin, where former New York City Mayor Eric Adams was booed while attempting to sell a local project, to Nevada, where a developer replaced a public town hall with a prerecorded video, to Pennsylvania, where public interest overwhelmed […]

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