At Thursday’s Montvale Council meeting, residents and advocates spoke out against the borough’s proposal to allow development of a 322,822-square foot hyperscale data center alongside affordable homes as part of an existing affordable housing development obligation.

In April, the Borough of Montvale submitted a revised settlement agreement for its affordable housing plan for the 44-acre KPMG property located at 3 Chestnut Ridge Road. This agreement would allow the S. Hekemian Group, a politically connected company, to develop the site with a 322,822-square foot hyperscale data center under a PILOT agreement. This revised settlement came after the state’s affordable housing dispute resolution program deemed the borough’s plan to allow affordable housing or a data center to be non-compliant.

“A data center is a bad deal for Montvale. Data centers are massive users of water and electricity and can drive up rates for residents living nearby while endangering the water supply. New Jersey has been experiencing long periods of drought for the past few years. We must be thinking of ways to reduce water use, not building more water-guzzling data centers,” said Paula Rogovin, Bergen County resident and volunteer with Food & Water Watch. “What’s more, data centers can create high concentrations of air pollution from on-site generator use. Combined with its 24/7 electrical hum, this is not the type of operation that should be allowed alongside homes.”

“The housing development now taking place statewide in suburban communities like Woodcliff Lake and Montvale, as required under state law, will ultimately help ease these pressures by increasing supply and inventory. It will create opportunities for seniors like me to sell my larger home and move into something smaller nearby if I choose, freeing my home for a younger family,” said Gail Levinson, a resident of nearby Woodcliff Lake. “It will also allow teachers, police officers, firefighters, healthcare workers, electricians and plumbers to live closer to where they work or where they grew up.”

Data center opposition has been growing in New Jersey. Last week, representatives of 60 organizations sent a letter to Governor Sherrill calling for a 3-year moratorium on data centers over 20MW in NJ. A recent Stockton University Poll found that 56% of voters would support a ban on data centers in their own municipality.