<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0WyPuL_1GmnQQWL00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0WyPuL_1GmnQQWL00" width="1200" height="600" >CROMWELL, Conn. (WFSB) - Cromwell’s Planning and Zoning Commission is still considering a six-month pause on new data center applications after a meeting Thursday night.The proposed moratorium will be considered next at a Dec. 3 hearing.Commissioners voted 5-2 against a proposed one-year moratorium on Sept. 24.<h2>Developer emails shared</h2>Records obtained by Channel 3 through a Freedom of Information request revealed the data center developer, Global Common, has been working with town officials since October 2025.On August 24, Foxen told Town Manager Anthony Salvatore, Administrative Secretary Jennifer Tranquillo, Planning and Development Director Andrew Armstrong, former Zoning &amp; Wetlands Enforcement Officer Bruce Driska that “Global Common has been working openly with Town representatives on the proposed project at 76 Geer Street since October 2025.”Towards the end of the email, he voiced concern over the data center moratorium’s impact on investor interest in the project.Former Director of Planning and Development Stuart Popper was also sent the email, though he left that role in 2024.<h2>Residents raise concerns</h2>Residents raised concerns about the location’s proximity to Cromwell Middle School.“It’s going to take away from what is the core of Cromwell,” Zachary Gauthier, who lives near the possible project said.People from all over town attended Thursday’s meeting. One woman brought a sign saying “No data center in my hometown.”The community’s list of concerns is long. Environmental and health impacts, the viability of a data center, and the potential strain on other public utilities like water.“The long-term losses outweigh any short-term benefit which is why I would say no chance,” Gauthier said. “Not this town.”<h2>Thursday night meeting</h2>Following a meeting full of frustration, the six-month moratorium will be considered at a special meeting on December 3.Foxen was in attendance for Thursday’s meeting.He told Channel 3 that the project would be on its own microgrid fueled by the Algonquin Gas Transmission line that runs on the property.Global Common would pay an $8 million host fee to the town annually.Foxen also said the facility could provide free energy to some residents through an ESCO. An ESCO is a third-party, private company licensed by the state to sell and/or supply power.He added that the design has changed several times to address concerns about farmland preservation and school proximity. During our interview with Foxen, a number of residents took their concerns directly to him.Planning and Zoning Commission Vice Chair Mike Cannata voted down the initial moratorium.Cannata said that the emails between the company and town officials did not include commission members or sway their decision.He claims a majority of the commissioners looked at the rules currently on the books and felt they covered. “Our regulations that presently exist for site plans and for uses right now, as we are speaking, have all of the teeth we need to properly regulate this application,” Cannata said.“We didn’t feel that we needed a one-year moratorium for new regulations that we already have that are adequate,” he added.Cannata and Chair Alice Kelly, who was one of two members to vote in favor of the first failed moratorium, reintroduced the idea of a moratorium in light of an application to amend zoning regulations for data centers.<h2>Separate application for zoning regulations </h2>Juan Duque, who also lives across from the planned project, feels the complete opposite.“I completely disagree with [Cannata],” he said. “The number one thing that is out there when it comes to considered data center is having a special permit.”Duque is named on a proposed text amendment to clearly define data centers and establish regulations surrounding them.Under Duque’s application, Data Centers would only be allowed with a special permit in designated Business &amp; Industrial zones. His proposal would also:<ul><li>Mandate a minimum 500-foot setback from any residential zone and a 1-mile buffer from any school property.</li><li>Require data centers be 100% off-grid renewable power.</li><li>Prohibit the discharge of wastewater into public sewers or water supplies</li><li>Prohibit large blank walls and require landscaping facing residential zones.</li><li>Require data center developers show how the site could be adapted in the future.</li></ul>Current Business Park zoning laws allow “Data Storage Facilities” by right. That means if Global Common submits an application that fulfills all requirements, a public hearing would not be required for it to be passed.“There’s absolutely no teeth and nothing we could do to stop it if there was an application to be submitted,” Duque said.Duque’s application, which was previously scheduled for a special meeting on December 3, will now be heard at the same hearing as the 6-month moratorium plan.<h2>Cromwell Town Council may also take action</h2>A main attraction to data center developers are reductions or the elimination of property taxes, known as tax abatements.Mayor James Demitriades says Town Council will consider an ordinance instituting a blanket ban on tax abatements and a ban on community host agreements for any data center.“A lot of residents are concerned that they would get a tax abatement, they wouldn’t pay taxes, and then they’d harm the environment, and then they leave,” he explained. “We want to just take that piece off the chessboard.”That ordinance will be discussed at the Town Council meeting on November 18. A final vote will come later.Demitriades said he is neither for or against the plan. However, he is seeking approval to write a letter to the state to ask for a statewide moratorium.As of November 5, Global Common has still not submitted a formal application for a data center project.</div></body>

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CROMWELL, Conn. (WFSB) - Cromwell’s Planning and Zoning Commission is still considering a six-month pause on new data center applications after a meeting Thursday night. The proposed moratorium will be considered next at a Dec. 3 hearing. Commissioners voted 5-2 against a proposed one-year moratorium on Sept. 24. Developer...

Cromwell reconsiders moratorium to pause new data center developments

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CROMWELL, Conn. (WFSB) - Cromwell’s Planning and Zoning Commission is still considering a six-month pause on new data center applications after a meeting T

Cromwell reconsiders moratorium to pause new data center developments

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