The data center fight in Andover Township, New Jersey
As of October 1, 2026, Andover Township, New Jersey has a data center moratorium in force (action taken May 28, 2026).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Ordinance 2026-13 banning data centers in all zones, passed unanimously. Repealed two prior ordinances that allowed them. NLD lawsuit filed Jul 10 in Sussex County Superior Court
SourceNews
read 2026-09-12
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Andover HPC Data Center — In review
Owner: National Land Developers · Filing LLC: Andover HPC Development · Acres: 97
National Land Developers registered Andover HPC Development in December 2025 at 248 Stickles Pond Road, a 97-acre former airport site. Andover Township first allowed data centers in a redevelopment zone along Route 206 (September 2025) and raised the height limit to 65 feet (April 2026), but after a chaotic May 2026 meeting with 300 residents, the township passed Ordinance 2026-13 banning data centers township-wide. No formal site plan was ever filed. National Land Developers sued in Sussex County Superior Court on July 10, 2026, challenging the ban.
Next: An application is in the record. Ask the planning office for the next hearing date and request formal notice.
Latest in the record
- 2026-07-27 — Insider NJ reported Mayor Walsh stated the township has funding in place to defend the ordinance; Sussex County Republican chair Joseph LaBarbera denied Democratic allegations that the GOP was lobbying for data centers, calling the claim a deliberate lie. · source
- 2026-07-19 — The Sussex County Democratic Committee issued a written statement criticizing township officials over the ordinance's vulnerability to the developer's lawsuit. · source
- 2026-07-16 — Andover officials said they intend to vigorously defend the ordinance, have no interest in settling, and expect to file a response to the complaint within about 30 days. · source
- 2026-07-10 — National Land Developers files lawsuit in Sussex County Superior Court challenging Ordinance 2026-13 banning data centers. · source
- 2026-05-28 — The Township Committee unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-13, prohibiting data centers as a use in all zones townshipwide. · source
- 2026-05-19 — The Andover Township Land Use Board found Ordinance 2026-13 consistent with the township's master plan. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-14.
Recent news
8 stories tracked since 2026-04-13 across 5 outlets. 6× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 1× The dispute has escalated into litigation. Most recent: “NJ town bans data centers, but the legal battle is only beginning” (New Jersey 101.5, 2026-07-23).
- NJ town bans data centers, but the legal battle is only beginning
- Towns use home rule to block data centers, a step beyond Sherrill
- Ban on data centers being considered in Andover Township, New Jersey, after town meeting gets violent
- 2 NJ towns fight against proposed AI data centers
- A N.J. town torn apart by an AI data center fight now says it’s reversing course
- Data center wars erupt across NJ, as Andover backtracks on OK'ing massive AI facilities
- Chaos erupts at NJ town meeting as cops wrestle resident over data center fight
- Rumors of a massive AI data center sparked this N.J. town to take drastic action
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 8 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in New Jersey.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- New Jersey briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in New Jersey
- Green Township (5 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Frelinghuysen Township (11 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Rockaway Township (13 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Liberty Township (16 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Knowlton Township (17 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Lebanon Township (18 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Vernon Township (18 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Washington (21 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
All 75 tracked actions in New Jersey are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.