New Brunswick Kills Plan To Build AI Data Center At 100 Jersey Avenue

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — At their meeting Wednesday night, the New Brunswick City Council killed plans to build a new AI data center at 100 Jersey Avenue.

Instead, a public park will be built where the data center would have gone.

It was going to be a small data center (27,000 square feet; the average data center in New Jersey is actually more than 400 percent bigger than that.) However, many New Brunswick residents were extremely concerned a data center would increase their electric bills.

Data centers suck up a lot of electricity, and they are responsible for some of the huge increases New Jersey residents have witnessed in their electric bills in the past two years. Data centers also require massive amounts of water to keep their servers cool, so water bills increase, too.

"Many people did not want this in their neighborhood. We don't want these kinds of centers that's going to take resources from the community," said Bruce Morgan, president of the New Brunswick NAACP, who thanked the Council for "scrapping" the data center.

Hundreds of people attended Wednesday night's meeting. When Council President Manuel Castaneda announced the data center was canceled, he was met with claps from the audience, many holding signs that read "No data center!"

Also, it was uncertain if PSE&G even needed a new data center there, the city said Wednesday. (This may signal a reduction in demand for data centers in New Jersey, although that is not certain.)

"Its inclusion in the development was uncertain, as the need for a data center must be demonstrated and approved by PSE&G," said the city in a statement. "We appreciate the input received from the planning board and the public."

100 Jersey Avenue is zoned by the city as the Jersey-Sandford Redevelopment Plan Area. The city described it as "a challenging 22+ acre site that consists of unsafe, dilapidated, obsolescent, vacant and abandoned structures that have blighted the neighborhood."

The city plans to redevelop 100 Jersey Avenue to include 600 new apartments (10 percent of which will be affordable) and small bay warehouses, designed to house small business and start-up companies. Plus, now a park, too.

New Brunswick said it was eager to "return 100 Jersey Avenue to productive and beneficial use for the neighborhood and the city."

Some residents say 10 percent affordable housing is not enough

Also, some residents say 10 percent affordable housing (of 600 units) is not enough, and it should be 20 percent.

"This is great news, no data center," said Anne Norris, a New Brunswick resident of 16 years. "My kids went through the (New Brunswick) public school system; we didn't pay for lunch because we have so many families under the poverty line. So, given the economic status of the people who live in New Brunswick, I don't think 10 percent is really sufficient."

The city of New Brunswick responded that it has already "far exceeded" its obligation to build affordable and subsidized housing.

"The 20-percent benchmark is often used by the courts for municipalities that have not met their affordable housing obligations," the city said in a statement Wednesday. "The city has far exceeded an obligation to include affordable housing in its development projects."

Currently, the city of New Brunswick has over 3,750 affordable and subsidized housing units, making up 22 percent of the city’s housing stock. Also, an additional 561 affordable units are in the pipeline, which will increase that percentage to 25 percent citywide.

"A primary objective of the 100 Jersey Avenue redevelopment plan is to provide workforce housing for individuals and families who may not be able to afford the higher rents associated with new redevelopment projects occurring in the city’s downtown," the city said Wednesday.

You can watch Wednesday night's New Brunswick council meeting here: https://youtu.be/IArWzcz6YBc