Bell Works Data Center: Resident Concerns and Questions for the Holmdel Planning Board

Overall Observations

The issue before Holmdel is not simply whether a 108,000-square-foot building can physically fit on the Bell Works property. The more important question is whether the applicant has provided enough verified information for the Planning Board to determine the impact of operating a 40 MW data center next to residential neighborhoods.

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Based on the application materials submitted, there are significant unanswered questions involving electrical infrastructure, generators, noise, air quality, flooding, utilities, emergency services and long-term impacts on surrounding residents.

The Board should require these questions to be answered with engineering evidence before final approval, rather than relying on future permits, anticipated approvals or assurances that impacts will be addressed later.

The Fundamental Problem

The application provides extensive information about the building, grading, landscaping and stormwater system. It provides considerably less certainty about the infrastructure that actually makes this a data center.

The architectural documents identify approximately:

·40 MW total utility load

·26 MW critical IT load

·Four data halls

·294 racks per data hall

·1,176 total racks

·108,000-square-foot building

·26,340-square-foot generator yard

Those are substantial industrial infrastructure requirements. Yet several of the most important pieces of the project remain subject to future engineering, permitting or agency review.

How can the Board determine that this project will not adversely affect surrounding residents when important components necessary to operate the facility have not yet been fully engineered, permitted or disclosed?

15 Questions the Applicant and Its Experts Should Be Required to Answer

1. Where is JCP&L's commitment to provide 40 MW?

The April 7, 2026 JCP&L letter does not appear to constitute a final engineering commitment for 40 MW. Instead, JCP&L says the exact method of service will be determined after additional engineering review and indicates that a substation and/or other infrastructure upgrades may be necessary.

·What engineering study establishes that 40 MW is available?

·Has JCP&L completed a load study or facilities study?

·If not, how can the complete physical impact of the project presently be evaluated?

2. Will a new or expanded electrical substation be required?

This is not a minor detail. A new or substantially expanded substation could introduce additional transformers, switchgear, utility lines, equipment noise, visual impacts, construction and land requirements.

·Exactly what electrical infrastructure must be constructed to deliver 40 MW, where will it be located, and why isn't that infrastructure shown as a finalized component of the project?

3. Who pays for the electrical infrastructure?

The applicant should disclose the expected cost of the utility upgrades and how those costs will be allocated.

·Will the developer pay 100% of the incremental infrastructure costs required to serve this facility, or could any costs eventually enter JCP&L's broader rate base?

·Residents should not be asked to subsidize infrastructure required by a private 40 MW customer.

4. Where is the comprehensive noise study?

A data center operates continuously. Relevant noise sources potentially include generators, transformers, cooling equipment, pumps, fans, rooftop equipment, switchgear and possible substation equipment. The site is adjacent to residential neighborhoods.

·Where is the acoustic model showing predicted sound levels at the nearest homes at 2 a.m., when residential background noise is lowest?

·Compliance should be demonstrated quantitatively at residential property lines rather than asserted generally.

5. Exactly how many generators will be installed?

The application identifies a 26,340-square-foot generator yard, yet residents should not have to infer the scale of the backup-power system from the size of the yard.

·How many diesel engines will be located on this site, and what is their combined generating capacity?

·The applicant should disclose generator count, MW per generator, total generation capacity, manufacturer/model, emissions classification, testing schedule, simultaneous testing policy and maximum annual operating hours.

6. How much diesel fuel will be stored onsite?

This should be answered with actual numbers.

·How many gallons of diesel will be stored?

·Where will the tanks be located?

·How frequently will fuel be delivered?

·What secondary containment exists?

·What happens if flooding, equipment failure or an accident causes a release?

·What is the worst-case spill scenario?

7. Where is the site-specific diesel emissions analysis?

The Environmental Impact Report indicates that an air preconstruction permit will still need to be pursued. That means an important environmental review remains incomplete.

·Where is the quantitative analysis showing concentrations of NOx, PM2.5 and other generator emissions at the nearest residential properties under worst-case operating and weather conditions?

·Simply stating that equipment will comply with environmental regulations does not answer this question.

8. Why is approximately 300 gallons per day considered sufficient water demand for a 40 MW facility?

The application describes a closed-loop cooling system and relatively low water consumption. That may ultimately prove accurate, but the number should be demonstrated.

·Where is the complete engineering water balance showing cooling-system makeup water, humidification, maintenance requirements, maximum summer conditions, fire protection and emergency conditions?

·"Closed loop" should not substitute for a quantitative engineering calculation.

9. Why is municipal approval being sought without final water and sewer commitments?

The Environmental Impact Report acknowledges that formal will-serve documentation was not yet available. The applicant has requested temporary waiver treatment for outstanding documentation.

·Why should Holmdel make its decision before the utilities themselves have formally confirmed the project's requirements and capacity?

10. Why are environmental conclusions being made before NJDEP completes critical determinations?

The application acknowledges outstanding or future NJDEP review involving wetlands and flood hazards. It also indicates that regulated areas shown on plans have not necessarily been finally verified.

·If NJDEP subsequently changes a wetland, transition-area, riparian or flood-hazard boundary, will the applicant be required to return to the Planning Board?

·The answer should be an enforceable yes, not merely an expectation.

11. Where is the final threatened and endangered species determination?

The Environmental Impact Report identifies potential habitat associated with several protected species and indicates that a Natural Heritage Program response was pending when the report was prepared.

·Why should the Board accept a conclusion of no adverse impact before the relevant agency review is complete?

12. Where is the construction traffic study?

The applicant's traffic analysis predicts very little traffic once the data center is operating. That is not the same thing as construction traffic. Building a data center and associated electrical infrastructure can involve dump trucks, concrete trucks, equipment transports, construction workers, generator deliveries, transformer deliveries and utility crews.

·How many heavy-truck trips per day are expected during peak construction, what roads will those trucks use, and who pays for damage to those roads?

·A binding construction traffic plan should prohibit inappropriate use of residential streets.

13. What does this project actually cost or save Holmdel residents?

The public discussion should not stop at investment or tax-revenue numbers. A proper fiscal analysis should include property taxes, school taxes, county taxes and other payments, as well as roads, police, fire protection, emergency training, environmental monitoring and other municipal obligations.

·Where is the independent fiscal-impact analysis demonstrating the net annual financial benefit to Holmdel taxpayers?

14. What happens to neighboring property values?

The project is adjacent to single-family residential areas. The application should therefore examine whether proximity to the facility, generator yard and electrical infrastructure could affect residential values.

·Has the applicant commissioned an independent appraisal study comparing residential property values near comparable data centers?

·If the answer is no, claims that property values will not be affected should not be presented as established fact.

15. What prevents this from becoming a substantially larger data center after approval?

AI infrastructure is rapidly increasing rack density and electrical requirements. The current application describes approximately 26 MW of critical IT load and approximately 40 MW of utility capacity.

·Will the approval explicitly establish 40 MW as the maximum electrical service capacity of the facility?

·Any future increase in utility capacity, IT load, generator capacity, generator count, cooling capacity or building footprint should require new Planning Board review.

Five Commitments Holmdel Should Require

1. 40 MW Hard Capacity Limit

The approval should establish 40 MW as a legally enforceable maximum unless the applicant returns for additional municipal review.

2. Independent Noise Monitoring

Baseline measurements should be taken before construction and verified after the facility begins operation. The applicant should pay for independent monitoring.

3. Developer-Paid Infrastructure

The developer should bear costs directly attributable to its electrical, road, water, sewer and emergency-service requirements to the extent legally permissible.

4. Mandatory Planning Board Return for Material Changes

Material changes resulting from JCP&L, NJDEP or other agency requirements should return to the Planning Board rather than being approved solely as administrative modifications.

5. Decommissioning Protection

The owner should provide an enforceable decommissioning plan addressing generators, fuel systems, batteries, transformers and other industrial equipment if the data center permanently closes.

The Question the Board Should Keep Asking

When the applicant's experts say: "That will be determined during final engineering."

If it has not yet been determined, how can its impact on Holmdel be determined today?

When the answer is: "NJDEP will address that."

What happens to this approval if NJDEP requires the project to change?

When the answer is: "The equipment will comply with applicable standards."

Show us the calculations demonstrating the actual impact at the nearest residential property.

And when the applicant describes the economic benefits:

Show Holmdel the complete net fiscal calculation, including the public costs created by the project.

Conclusion

This application should not be evaluated as simply another building at Bell Works. The proposed facility is fundamentally a 40 MW piece of industrial-scale digital infrastructure located adjacent to residential communities and environmentally sensitive areas.

The application contains substantial engineering work concerning grading, drainage, landscaping and building design. But some of the most important questions specifically associated with operating a large data center remain unresolved or insufficiently documented:

·How 40 MW gets to the site.

·What utility infrastructure must be constructed.

·How many generators will operate there.

·How much diesel will be stored.

·What surrounding residents will hear at night.

·What residents could breathe during generator operation.

·What happens during a prolonged power outage.

·Whether all environmental boundaries have been finalized.

·What happens if NJDEP or JCP&L changes the design.

·Whether surrounding property values could be affected.

·What the actual net economic benefit is to Holmdel residents.

·Who ultimately pays for the infrastructure and external costs necessary to support the project?

These questions do not automatically mean a data center cannot be built at Bell Works. They mean the burden should be on the applicant to answer them with engineering evidence before approval, rather than asking Holmdel residents to accept assurances that unresolved issues will be addressed later.

For a facility expected to operate around the clock for decades, "we will determine that later" should not be the standard for determining its impact on the surrounding community.