Board votes to broaden data center moratorium
Planning Board · Meeting of September 23, 2026
Boxborough Planning Board strikes a power-use threshold from its draft data center moratorium and previews a new fire station design. The board voted 5-0 to remove language that would have banned only data centers drawing 5,000 kilovolt-amperes or more, opting instead to bar facilities of any size unless their computing equipment is "accessory and incidental" to another permitted use; the underlying moratorium runs through Dec. 31, 2028. Resident Mark Barbadaro warned that any numeric threshold "can never close again" once opened.
Separately, the board held a nearly two-hour preliminary, non-binding hearing on a proposed 21,000-square-foot fire station at 984 and 996 Massachusetts Avenue and 38 Sara's Way, featuring a 50-foot hose-drying tower, 63 parking spaces and a planned $1 million, one-year risk if MassDOT requires a traffic signal, per resident Jeff Glidden. Board member Rebecca Verner pressed for alternatives to the tower: "let's just upgrade the hoses." No vote was taken on the firehouse design.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 3,297 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of September 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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