The Lysander, New York town board voted to extend its moratorium on new data center development, according to Syracuse.com, keeping a hold in place on new projects in the town while local officials write permanent zoning rules for the use.
In Connecticut, the town of Cromwell is now weighing its own data center moratorium after a proposed project in town drew opposition from residents, NBC Connecticut reported, a step that would pause new filings there while the town studies the request.
Neither move changes the state-level rules contractors already have to clear. In New York, Executive Order 62 — signed July 14 and still in effect with no end date — pauses new data centers that consume or can consume 50 megawatts or more, until the state Department of Public Service finishes its environmental review. Lysander's moratorium operates underneath that order, as a second, local-level hold that can block or delay projects the state order doesn't reach, including smaller facilities under the state's 50-megawatt threshold.
Connecticut has no statewide pause comparable to New York's order. The state is instead advancing a proposed rule that would require data centers of 20 megawatts or more to bring their own power supply rather than draw fully off the grid — a requirement still in proposal form, not yet adopted. Cromwell's possible moratorium would sit on top of that proposal, as a town-level hold specific to the project that drew the objections.
Both actions follow a wave of local data center votes and moratoriums reported across the country this week, including in New Jersey, where a Stockton University poll found majority opposition to data centers sited near residential areas, and in several other states where voters or local boards acted to slow or block new projects.
What to do next
Contractors eyeing data center work in central New York should check with Lysander's town clerk for the moratorium's exact expiration date and scope before pricing any job in the town — a local hold can stop a project the state order would otherwise allow. In Connecticut, track Cromwell's town meeting calendar for a vote on its proposed moratorium, and watch the state's bring-your-own-power rulemaking, since a 20-megawatt threshold would pull in far more projects than New York's 50-megawatt line.