Data Centers Are Red-Hot, But They Are Increasingly Facing A Much More Hostile Local Landscape
December 12, 2021 | Dan Rabb | Bisnow
Local resistance to new data centers is on the rise — and industry insiders tell Bisnow that developers need to start paying attention.
In recent months, opposition to data centers has made headlines in communities across the U.S. From two cities in Arizona to a pair of towns in Connecticut to rural communities in Virginia and Oregon, local governments and community groups have sought to block or curb data center development.
NIMBYism is nothing new, but this wave of resistance in emerging data center markets is a trend that has industry professionals taking notice.
As the footprint of digital infrastructure in the U.S. expands and decentralizes, and as data centers — and their potential local impacts — go from obscurity to a growing presence in the public consciousness, industry insiders say that those looking to build these facilities will need to make adjustments to account for this new political reality.
“We’re seeing it firsthand with a few clients around the country where they thought they had an inroad in very supportive cities and development authorities, but now they’re getting some rabble-rousing from the local populace,” said Michael Rechtin, a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP who heads the firm’s Data Center Services group.
“Places that were previously supportive are now saying, ‘Well, maybe we really don’t want this.’”
An inventory of the recent run of objections to data centers from local governments and community groups reflects a broad array of environmental and quality-of-life concerns that have long been associated with data centers.
