Cherry Hill has officially banned large-scale AI data centers after Township Council voted unanimously Monday, July 27, to adopt the ordinance on second reading. No public comment was offered before the vote. The new law lists data centers as a non-permitted use in every zone within the township's borders.

"We don't think that Cherry Hill should be a guinea pig," Mayor David Fleisher told the Philadelphia Inquirer after the vote. "So while the technology is evolving, we wanted to be proactive and make sure that we eliminated a problem before it became one."

The ordinance takes effect 20 days after adoption, around Sunday, August 16. Any developer seeking to build a data center in Cherry Hill would now need a land-use variance from the zoning board, which planning officials have described as one of the hardest approvals to obtain.

Cherry Hill, with a population of roughly 80,000, is the largest municipality in South Jersey to formally ban large-scale data centers, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

What the Artheon report found

The township commissioned planning consultant Artheon to study data center impacts. Christopher N. Dochney of Artheon's Camden office briefed Council at the Monday, July 27 meeting on the ordinance's precise wording, explaining that the language was crafted to prevent legal challenges from developers who might argue that digital processing qualifies as manufacturing.

Artheon's earlier report laid out stark numbers:

  • A single hyperscale center can draw about 100 megawatts of power, equivalent to the electricity used by 100,000 households.
  • A hyperscale facility consumes roughly 700 million gallons of water per year more than 10,000 households, according to the report.
  • More than 56% of data center power nationwide comes from fossil fuels.

Dochney told Council on July 27 that large-scale data centers "consume a lot of land," "use a lot of water," and "take up a lot of energy," calling those impacts "directly inconsistent and contradictory to the stated goals of your Master Plan," as reported by 70and73.com.

How it started

Resident Jeffrey McKenzie spoke at the Tuesday, May 26 council meeting, urging officials to act. McKenzie cited noise and water impacts from data center projects in Vineland and submitted a model ordinance from the Pinelands Alliance.

Mayor Fleisher responded that night by pledging to keep data centers out of Cherry Hill. Council approved the ordinance unanimously on first reading Monday, July 13, and the Cherry Hill Planning Board reviewed it for consistency with the township's master plan on Monday, July 20, before the final vote.

What the ban covers

The ordinance defines a data center as a building or group of buildings exceeding 100,000 square feet primarily used for AI, cloud computing, machine learning, cryptocurrency mining, colocation services, or large-scale digital data storage. Accessory server rooms inside other buildings are excluded.

Data centers now join Cherry Hill's existing list of prohibited uses, which includes airfields, junkyards, incinerators and mobile-home dwelling units.

Community calendar

  • Tuesday, July 28 — Music Under the Stars season finale, Barclay Farmstead, 209 Barclay Lane. Live music at 7 p.m., food trucks, and beer garden. Free shuttle from Trinity Presbyterian Church (499 Marlton Pike East), 6–9 p.m.