Boards recommend tighter data center power, water caps
The Bridgewater Planning Board and Community and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to recommend tighter limits on high-intensity data centers before sending the ordinance back to the Town Council.
Planning Board · Meeting of October 7, 2026
BRIDGEWATER — The Bridgewater Planning Board and Community and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to recommend tighter limits on high-intensity data centers before sending the ordinance back to the Town Council. The amendment lowers the peak electrical demand threshold from 5 megawatts to 2 megawatts and the water-use threshold from 10,000 to 5,000 gallons per day, from public or private sources. Councilor Perry said the goal was "to reduce or prevent these high data centers from coming to town." Resident Caitlin Barry Brown urged further restrictions, including aquifer buffers and surety bonds, warning that "a facility under 5,000 square feet can easily draw multi-megawatt power loads." The boards also recommended a technical fix to the Central Business District ordinance, adding commercial and industrial uses to its site plan review trigger, on a 3-0 committee roll call.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
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- The complete report — 2,196 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of October 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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