Bangor city councilors are planning to fast-track an ordinance that would pause any plans to build data centers in the city for the next six months.
The freeze will give the city time to adjust its Land Development Code before considering any proposals from data centers, according to city staff. Councilors will take a final vote on the measure at their Monday, April 13, meeting.
The local measure, which seems to have broad support on the council, would come as the Maine Legislature considers a longer freeze that would ban large data centers for the next year and a half.
Maine would be the first state to enact a ban, although many U.S. cities and counties have enacted similar measures as rapid data center development for artificial intelligence drives up utility costs in some parts of the country and raises concerns about impacts on the environment and local communities. Plans for data centers in several other Maine communities have been shut down due to opposition from the public.
A sudden influx of “development pressure from data centers” in Bangor is driving the urgency around the measure, according to the ordinance.
Bangor’s business and economic development director, Anne Krieg, did not immediately respond to a phone call Monday requesting comment on the details of that development pressure.
“Existing ordinances and development standards do not adequately address the unique infrastructure demands, environmental impacts, impacts to neighboring property owners, and operational characteristics of data centers,” the ordinance states, adding that data centers usually use a lot of electricity and water while generating pollution, including noise, and taking up large amounts of land.
Councilors on Monday agreed to send the measure to a vote next week.
If passed, the ordinance would remain in effect for 180 days or until zoning and land use amendments go into effect, whichever comes first. There are currently no pending applications for data centers, planning officer Anja Collette told councilors Monday.
The ordinance is set to skip its first reading and have a final vote April 13 “due to the emergency nature of this issue,” Anne Krieg, Bangor’s business and economic development director, wrote in a March 23 memo, adding that council can skip to a second reading of an ordinance with a two-thirds majority vote.
City staff from the planning and legal departments drafted the ordinance using similar regulations from other communities as models, Collette said.
Councilors previously discussed potential options for data center regulation at a March 2 committee meeting.
Councilor Joe Leonard initiated that discussion, citing electricity, water and land use issues in other communities that have welcomed data centers as well as economic considerations.
“In general, they don’t offer a lot of long-term jobs,” Leonard said. “They might offer some short-term construction jobs, but the long-term economic benefit is minuscule compared to the impact they have on communities.”
Chuck Harrison, Bangor Water District general manager, sent a letter to councilors in support of the pause, saying the time would allow the agency “to develop a better understanding of water consumption needs for modern data centers.”
The state-level bill, which would apply to data centers of at least 20 megawatts, got initial approval from the Maine House of Representatives Monday and will advance to the Senate, the Maine Morning Star reported.
Legislators across the state were targeted by a social media campaign last month opposing the data center ban. Constituents represented by Rep. Amy Roeder, D-Bangor, received ads telling them to call their representatives and ask for a version of the bill with more exceptions, although Roeder told the Bangor Daily News last month that “literally no one has asked me to prioritize data centers.”
Data center proposals in Wiscasset and Lewiston were effectively killed late last year following resident backlash.
John Blais, Lewiston’s acting economic development director, told the BDN that developers were attracted to the area for its power grid and fiber infrastructure, “But once I explained there would be a rigid public process, we’re not getting a lot of attention and they’re moving on to other communities.”
A data center at the former paper mill in Jay is set to begin construction this summer, although the state-level moratorium would halt those plans. Plans in Sanford and Loring would also be interrupted by the law.
