NEWBURYPORT — During the Newburyport Planning Board meeting on June 17, 2026, Planning Director Andrew Port discussed a possible zoning amendment that would restrict or prohibit large data centers in Newburyport due to concerns about water use, energy demand, and the city’s ability to support future development.
Port said data centers are a newer zoning issue for communities and that Newburyport’s business park would likely be the area where such a use might be proposed if a company tried to locate one in the city.
“They are typically high water and energy usage facilities,” Port said.
When a board member asked if data centers were already prohibited because they are not listed as an allowed use, Port said the proposed amendment would make clear that major data centers are prohibited, rather than leaving the city to debate whether such a facility could fit under another broad zoning category, such as infrastructure or industrial use.
According to the draft zoning amendment for data centers from June 16, 2026, which Port presented to the planning board during the June 17 meeting, “a data center [defined as a facility primarily designed or used to house computer servers and related information technology infrastructure for the storage, processing, management, or transmission of large amounts of electronic data] shall not be considered an office, industrial, warehouse, storage, manufacturing or research use.”
The board also discussed whether the city should distinguish between large data centers and smaller facilities that may be needed for telecommunications or other infrastructure. Members raised the possibility of using a square-footage threshold, with discussion including possible limits such as 5,000 or 25,000 square feet.
Water capacity was one of the main concerns discussed. Port said the city’s water superintendent had reviewed the issue based on what is known about the industry and raised concerns about whether Newburyport could supply that kind of use.
“We can’t water these types of facilities,” Port quoted the city’s water superintendent as saying during the meeting.
Port said dedicating large amounts of water to cooling data centers could make future growth in the city more difficult.
No final decision was made during the discussion. Port indicated the issue was expected to come back for further discussion and could return to the planning board.
