Mahwah's Data Center Pause Starts Where New Jersey's July Law Does, at 50 Megawatts
Mahwah has banned a kind of building that no one had proposed to build there. On October 26, 2026, the Mahwah Township Council unanimously adopted an ordinance that bans new large-scale data centers while officials study how they could affect the community. NorthJersey.com reported that officials said no such project was proposed in Mahwah and called the measure preventative.
That makes Ordinance 2105 easier to read. It sets a clock. It pauses only the largest class of facility, uses essentially the same 50-megawatt threshold the state set in July for a separate data center rate class, leaves Mahwah's existing data center alone, and gives the Planning Board until June 30, 2027 to recommend permanent rules. The council's long-term decision comes after that report.
The township's October 2026 issue of Mahwah Matters lays out the terms in a few lines:
The township has posted the ordinance itself as a scanned PDF.
Council President Robert M. Ferguson introduced it on first reading on October 12, Councilmember George Ervin seconded it, and it passed on a roll call. According to Citizen Portal's account of the introduction, the study is also tied to a Master Plan reexamination covering land use, utility capacity, water, noise and environmental impacts.
The push started months earlier. In July, a resident asked the council for an update and for public access to any draft language, saying she and other residents wanted the township to act, Citizen Portal reported. At the October 12 introduction, residents urged the council to set the threshold below 50 megawatts and raised water and environmental concerns. The adopted version kept 50.
The 50-megawatt figure matches a threshold New Jersey wrote into law this summer. On July 7, 2026, Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the Data Center Fair Share bill, S731/A796. The Governor's office says it creates a separate rate class and rate structure so data centers pay for their energy and the grid infrastructure that serves them.
New Jersey Monitor's coverage of the signing gives the details. The Board of Public Utilities must set up a special rate-setting process for data centers rated to consume at least 50 megawatts and finish the rules within 12 months of the signing. Those rules must encourage data centers to build their own renewable generation, put other electricity users first if demand nears grid limits, and protect ratepayers from transmission costs for data centers that later close.
The two thresholds are worded slightly differently. The state's applies at "at least" 50 megawatts, and Mahwah's covers loads "over" 50, so a facility at exactly 50 falls on different sides of the two lines. Above that point, Mahwah's pause covers the same size of facility the law sets aside as its own category of electricity customer once the BPU's rules are in place. Before that, on May 27, the Governor announced a statewide plan calling for data centers to help pay for grid infrastructure, bring new clean energy online, report their energy and water use, and address community impacts.
The state's version of those rules is still being written, and the BPU has until July 2027 to finish them. Mahwah's Planning Board deadline lands about a week earlier, on June 30. For the next several months, the town and the state are working out how to handle the same class of facility at the same time.
The exemption for existing facilities matters because Mahwah already has one. South Jersey Climate News keeps a statewide data center map, last updated October 21, 2026. It lists the US Liquidity Center, operated by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., at 1700 MacArthur Blvd., as operational. The same map counts more than 80 data centers in New Jersey, with more planned or under construction.
Ordinance 2105 doesn't change that building's status. It also leaves alone the ordinary business server rooms found in office parks around town. According to the township newsletter, those are outside the ordinance. The ordinance applies to new facilities above the threshold.
Mahwah's ordinance is narrower than many others adopted this year. NJ.com reported in August that 37 New Jersey municipalities had banned data centers at that point, covering more than 1 million residents. The three towns NJ.com covered in that story wrote their rules more broadly:
| Town | Adopted (2026) | What's covered | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahwah | October 26 | Facilities with total electric load over 50 MW | All zoning districts, pending the Planning Board study |
| North Brunswick | August 24 | Any facility used primarily for storing, managing and processing digital data | "A prohibited use in all zones" |
| East Brunswick | August 24 | Hyperscale and colocation facilities, cloud computing infrastructure, cryptocurrency mining and AI processing | All commercial, business and industrial districts |
| Stafford Township | August 18 | Data centers | Anywhere in the township |
North Brunswick also removed "computer and data processing" from the permitted uses in its industrial and office research districts. NJ.com reported that its push came from a specific proposal, the planned redevelopment of an 87-acre property at 100 Fidelity Plaza. East Brunswick's ordinance directly cites the Governor's May 27 plan and the July 7 bills.
So Mahwah's measure differs from those three in a few ways. It is size-based and temporary, it wasn't prompted by a specific project, and it leaves the permanent rules to a study the council asked for. The permanent version could end up broader, narrower or about the same, depending on what the Planning Board recommends and what the council adopts.
Electricity costs come up again and again in this story, so it helps to know how Mahwah gets its power. Rockland Electric Company, a subsidiary of Orange & Rockland, lists Mahwah among the communities it serves. Its March 2024 release describes system work benefiting customers in Mahwah and Ramsey.
A local ordinance can only do so much about rates. When Governor Sherrill signed the July bills, she acknowledged that data-center-specific rates could have limited effect on New Jersey bills. Prices are set by supply and demand across PJM's 13-state grid, so data centers in Virginia or Pennsylvania can raise costs in New Jersey and vice versa, New Jersey Monitor reported.
So the ordinance mainly controls what Mahwah can do directly, which is land use: where a very large facility could go, what water and noise standards it would have to meet, and whether it fits the Master Plan. Regional power prices are mostly outside the township's reach. That helps explain why the study covers power, water, noise, location and development standards together.
The ordinance is in effect now, but the permanent rules are still months away. Council meetings are held at Township Hall at 7 p.m., and agendas and video are posted on the township website. The remaining 2026 meetings and the key 2027 deadlines:
If you want a say in where the threshold ends up, including the lower limit some residents asked for in October, the Planning Board's review is where that work happens. Its recommendations will shape whatever the council adopts afterward. You can sign up on the township website to get Mahwah Matters by email, which is where the council summarized this ordinance.
This post is general information about a local ordinance and state law, not legal advice. If a zoning rule affects a property you own, confirm the details with the township or an attorney.
At The Ivanov Group, we follow decisions like Ordinance 2105 because zoning in Mahwah affects what can be built near the neighborhoods we work in. If you'd like to know how township planning decisions might relate to your own home's value, start with our Instant Home Valuation and we'll go through the local context with you.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
Whether you're looking to invest, build, or find your dream home, The Ivanov Group is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can be a part of your real estate success story.