Data center restrictions tracker · New Jersey

Cranford Township, New Jersey: data center zoning exclusion (2026)

Data snapshot 2026-08-15 · part of Pricing the Fear of Data Centers

Cranford Township, in Union County, New Jersey, adopted a data-center zoning exclusion on June 9, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is pending.

The record reads: "Cranford announced it will introduce a land-use ordinance amendment on June 8, 2026 to explicitly prohibit AI data centers, reversing its August 2025 broadening of permitted uses in the C-1 Commerce Park zone. The action is driven by… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
Zoning exclusionrestrictionpendingJune 9, 2026not county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: Union County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.

Elsewhere in Union County

New Jersey context

New Jersey has 24 documented local actions across 23 jurisdictions in this snapshot. At the state level, the state has a ratepayer-protection law (enacted).

A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.

Sources

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