Annual review of rising community resistance—and how developers can de-risk site selection, build trust, and move projects forward Adam Waitkunas 2025 marked a turning point in the relationship between data center development and the communities asked to host it. What was once treated as a niche land‑use issue became a national flashpoint, driven by rising public awareness, political scrutiny, and organized opposition. Between March and June alone, more than $98 billion in projects across the […]
Milldam Minute
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 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, […]
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 […]
Zoning In
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 […]
Zoning In
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 […]
Reflections on One Year of Zoning In
12 Months That Made One Thing Clear: Data Center Community Engagement Is No Longer Optional –Adam Waitkunas What’s Changed—and What Developers Must Do Next Twelve months ago, we launched Zoning In to track the fast-evolving intersection of data centers, land use, and community relations. In that time, the landscape has only grown hotter: opposition is more organized, hearing rooms are packed, and narratives are shifting to include transparency, ownership structures, private equity, and even debates […]





