Server racks in a data center aisle behind rolled zoning maps and a planning document, illustrating the proposed Boston data center ban.

Boston Data Center Ban: Council Hearing Set for Oct. 19

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A proposed Boston data center ban, which would rewrite the city’s zoning code so that data centers are a forbidden use in every zoning district, is scheduled for its first public hearing at Boston City Hall on Monday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. The City Council’s Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation, chaired by District 8 Councilor Sharon Durkan, will take testimony on Docket #1718 in the Iannella Chamber, according to a public notice the city posted on Oct. 7.

The order was filed in mid-September by District 7 Councilor Miniard Culpepper and referred to committee at the council’s Sept. 16 meeting. The hearing is the first formal step in a process that could end with a change to the zoning code, an amended version, or no action at all.

What the Docket #1718 zoning amendment would do

The order, posted in full by Universal Hub, asks the Boston Zoning Commission to add a definition of “data center” to Article 2 of the zoning code and to create a new section, 8-4A, titled “Data Centers Forbidden Citywide.” The draft text describes a data center as a facility principally dedicated to housing and operating servers, data-storage systems, networking and computer-processing equipment, cooling systems and related electrical infrastructure.

The proposed section states that, notwithstanding neighborhood district articles, planned development areas, master plans, overlay districts or any other provision of the code, a data center “shall be a forbidden use in every zoning district and subdistrict.” According to Caught in Dot, the amendment would not restrict server rooms, network closets or other computing equipment that serves a building’s main use. Boston.com reported that a developer could still seek a zoning variance, which involves a community process.

Boston.com also reported that the city’s one existing large, for-profit data center, a 920,000-square-foot facility on Summer Street, would be grandfathered, although possible future expansions could be affected if the measure passes.

Sponsors and the council’s earlier data center review

The city’s Legistar record lists Culpepper and District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell as lead sponsors, with Council President Liz Breadon and Councilors Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Sharon Durkan, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana and Benjamin Weber also listed as sponsors. The file was created on Sept. 14 and referred to committee on Sept. 16. It is one of several items the council has sent to hearings this fall; a summary of other recent actions is in our report on the Boston City Council’s Oct. 7 meeting.

The order follows an earlier hearing request. Boston.com reported that Councilor Ed Flynn filed an order in April calling for further study of data centers, and that nine other councilors added their names to it.

What supporters of the ban have said

In a statement reported by Caught in Dot, Culpepper said the city should decide “proactively whether this is a land use that makes sense for our city, rather than waiting until a major proposal is already before us.” He added that Boston’s density, scarcity of developable land and existing demands on infrastructure are “incompatible with the direction we should be taking as a city.”

Worrell, in comments to the same outlet, cited “air pollution, strain on our water sources, strain on our city’s power grid” as impacts he associates with data centers. The order’s own preamble points to Boston’s “dense development patterns” and a “scarcity of land and infrastructure capacity,” according to Boston.com, and argues that without a definition in the zoning code, a data center could be proposed under a broader use category that does not account for its size, emissions, noise or water use.

How the state’s new data center rules fit in

The council measure references an executive order Gov. Maura Healey signed on Sept. 8. As reported by WBUR and the State House News Service, that order requires proposed data centers with peak electricity demand above 25 megawatts to reach community benefits agreements with host communities before state permitting can proceed. It also bars nondisclosure agreements between state agencies and data center developers and creates a Ratepayer Protection Fund for projects that cannot immediately supply their own clean energy. “Unless a community says yes to a data center, we’re saying no,” Healey said at the time. State officials are due to publish guidance for municipalities by Dec. 31.

Other Massachusetts communities have already acted. Boston.com reported that Lowell approved a one-year moratorium in March, Westfield passed a similar measure in July, Holyoke enacted a near-total ban, and Everett and Mansfield adopted strict restrictions. The issue has also surfaced in the governor’s race, covered in our overview of the 2026 Massachusetts governor race and ballot questions.

Other views and open questions

When the order was filed, spokespeople for Mayor Michelle Wu did not immediately respond to Boston.com’s request for comment. Boston.com noted that Wu was one of 41 mayors who earlier this year endorsed a global pact on the sustainability and environmental impacts of urban data centers.

Industry voices have commented on the state order rather than the Boston docket. In a Bisnow report, Gregory Sampson, a partner at Sullivan & Worcester who leads its permitting and energy practices, said the state rules set “a high burden for developers to meet” and would likely keep most large developers out of Massachusetts in the short run. Sampson said he generally supports the order but questioned how community benefits agreements would be negotiated and how the rules would apply to existing data centers that want to expand. Bisnow, citing Digital Realty, reported that the Boston market has less than 90 megawatts of data center capacity.

What happens next for the Boston data center ban

The Oct. 19 hearing will be broadcast on Xfinity 8, RCN 82 and Fios 964 and streamed at boston.gov/city-council-tv, according to the notice. After a hearing, a committee can hold working sessions, amend the language or report the matter back to the full council. Because the docket is written as a petition to the Boston Zoning Commission, any final change to the zoning code text would go through that body. Readers following city land-use rules may also want to review our explainer on Boston permitting changes that took effect Oct. 1.

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