This week’s Zoning In shows the data center debate moving decisively from city halls to statehouses. New York lawmakers introduced a three-year moratorium to study grid, ratepayer, and water impacts—while other states are floating similar “pause and prove it” approaches. Referendums (Janesville), lawsuits (Hobart), and even NDA backlash in Michigan signal that process and transparency are now just as combustible as power and water. At the local level, timelines and trust are everything. Fermi’s permitting […]

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This week’s Zoning In highlights a troubling pattern playing out across multiple markets: projects are making headlines long before they ever reach the community microphone. From Monterey Park and DeKalb County to Lowell Township, Spartanburg County, and Imperial County, residents are showing up angry—not because data centers exist, but because they’ve been reading about proposed projects in the press for months—sometimes more than a year—before a single town hall, briefing, or listening session ever occurred. […]

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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 […]

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