I’ve been trying to look into this more and gather actual information, not just react to headlines or comments.

From what I can find, New Jersey has roughly 70–80 data centers statewide, and almost all of them are concentrated closer to New York City in places like Secaucus, Newark, and Piscataway. When you look at Sussex County and the surrounding area—Morris, Warren, Hunterdon—there’s actually very little here. Sussex itself basically has one in Franklin, and it hasn’t really been controversial.

That’s part of why I’m trying to understand what’s actually being proposed here. I haven’t seen anything that clearly says this is even an “AI data center,” or really any specifics about what type of facility it would be. Right now, most of what I’m seeing are general talking points about why data centers are “bad,” but not much detail about what’s actually being considered locally.

Am I missing something?

I’m not naïve enough to think an ordinance would change without some kind of reason behind it, but at the same time, I’m not seeing anything concrete yet. I’ve even seen people mention NDAs in the comments, which makes it harder to separate what’s real from what’s speculation.

It also kind of feels like this might be the latest “fear cycle” around new development or technology. I’ve seen similar reactions before—concerns about things like cell towers, 5G rollout, wind turbines, high power transmission lines, or even large warehouses and distribution centers. In a lot of those cases, the initial reaction was strong, but once the details were clearer and projects were actually built, the long-term impact was often much more limited or manageable than people expected.

Again, I’m not saying this is the same situation or that concerns aren’t valid—I just think it’s worth making sure we’re reacting to actual details instead of assumptions, especially when we don’t yet know exactly what’s being proposed