Warren moved to ban data centers on a 4 to 1 vote, and the dissent is the part worth reading
Ordinance 26-19 passed first reading 4 to 1 on May 14, with Committeeman McCarey voting no. His objection was not to the ban but to writing performance standards for a use the ordinance prohibits.
On May 14, 2026 the Warren Township Committee introduced Ordinance 26-19, which amends Chapter 16 Zoning to define a data center, prohibit the use in every zoning district, and set supplementary performance standards. First reading passed 4 to 1. Committeeman Daniel McCarey voted no. Committeemen Lance Blick and Daniel Croson, Deputy Mayor Vanessa Kian and Mayor Shaun Fine voted yes. McCarey's stated objection was to the drafting rather than to the prohibition. The public hearing is set for June 18, 2026. There are no data center applications or plans in Warren.
Most zoning votes in Warren are unanimous. This one was not, and the reason McCarey gave is a real question about how you write a ban.
What the ordinance does
Ordinance 26-19 amends Chapter 16 Zoning in three moves. It adds a definition of "Data Center." It designates data centers a prohibited use in all zones. And it sets supplementary performance standards for them.
The definition covers any facility used primarily for the storage, management and processing of digital data. It then adds a numeric test: any use with a power density of 2 to 4W or more per acre shall be considered a data center. It also states, in as many words, that a data center is not a warehouse. That last line is doing more work than it appears to. Warehouse and light industrial classifications are the usual route by which a data center arrives in a municipality that never zoned for one.
The whereas clauses set out the case. They cite legislative data that large data centers can consume 3 to 5 million gallons of water per day and require roughly 300 MW of power, which the ordinance describes as roughly equivalent to the output of a small modular nuclear reactor. They also note statewide consumer energy cost increases exceeding 20 percent.
The dissent
Croson read the ordinance for introduction and explained there were no applications or plans for a data center in Warren, framing the measure as responsible planning ahead of a problem rather than a response to one.
McCarey then raised his objection. Per the minutes, he expressed concern that some of the wording is counterintuitive, specifically why the ordinance sets performance standards if data centers are a prohibited use. Township Attorney William Willard answered that the standards would provide guidelines if a variance application reached the Board of Adjustment.
Both positions are defensible, and the exchange is a useful window into how New Jersey land use law actually works.
A prohibited use is not an absolute bar. An applicant can seek a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d). If a board ever granted one, the township would want standards already on the books governing noise, water and power, because writing them under the pressure of a live application is a much weaker position. That is Willard's argument, and it is the conventional drafting practice.
McCarey's argument is that a ban with a built in operating manual reads as an invitation, and that the standards themselves could be cited by a future applicant as evidence the township contemplated the use. That is not a frivolous concern.
Note what the disagreement was not about. McCarey did not argue against prohibiting data centers in Warren.
Press coverage of this ordinance did not report the 4 to 1 split. The dissent appears only in the certified minutes. Patch also dated the introduction to May 19. Both the minutes and the ordinance's own INTRODUCED line establish May 14. Where a secondary source and the primary record disagree on a date, the record governs.
Where it came from
The origin is on the record from a month earlier. At the April 16, 2026 meeting Croson raised the noise and energy impacts of data centers, citing New Jersey municipalities that have limited or prohibited them. Willard and Planner Katherine Sarmad were directed to research the question and draft an ordinance for the Committee's consideration.
Four weeks from a floor comment to a drafted zoning amendment is fast for a township. It also means the drafting had one pass, which is context for McCarey's objection.
What happens next
The public hearing and second reading are scheduled for June 18, 2026. Between introduction and adoption the ordinance goes to the Planning Board for a consistency review against the Master Plan, which is the standard step for any zoning amendment in New Jersey.
If you have a view, the June 18 hearing is where it belongs on the record. Township Committee meetings are held in the Susie B. Boyce Court Room at 44 Mountain Boulevard, not at the temporary administrative offices on Mountainview Road.
My read
Separating the facts above from my own opinion, which is what this section is: the power density test is the part I would want a second look at before adoption. A threshold expressed as "2 to 4W or more per acre" is a range, not a threshold, and a range invites argument about which end applies. If the point of the numeric test is to keep a large facility from arriving under a different name, the number wants to be a single number.
That is a drafting comment, not a position on whether Warren should permit data centers. On the substance, a township of this size with this water and power profile has an obvious interest in deciding the question before somebody files an application rather than after.
- Township of Warren, Township Committee Regular Meeting Minutes, May 14, 2026. https://www.warrennj.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_05142026-975
- Township of Warren, Ordinance No. 26-19, introduced May 14, 2026. https://www.warrennj.org/DocumentCenter/View/11686
- Patch, Warren Township Moves To Ban Data Centers In All Zoning Districts, May 19, 2026. https://patch.com/new-jersey/warren/warren-township-moves-ban-data-centers-all-zoning-districts
John Mangini
Broker / Owner, NextHome Premier
Warren Township resident and full time broker, serving clients since 1999. Warren 07059 is written from live Garden State MLS data, township records and primary sources. Every figure is traceable to a source listed above.
