Good morning, and Happy 4th of July to you and your family.
It’s been a bit of time, but I wanted to give an update on my advocacy regarding the four pillars that I campaigned on in April.
As many of you know, at the first Select Board meeting following the election, I surprised the Board with an urgent request for the town to begin the process of prohibiting (or at least discouraging) data centers in Wilmington. Since then, the issue has been referred to the Economic Development Committee, where I have continued to advocate for action by attending meetings and submitting proposed language for the committee’s consideration.
As I have stated publicly, I believe the proverbial field is being set up for a data center in Wilmington. The new RMLD substation will increase its ability to service more homes than currently exist in Wilmington. We also have increased water capacity as a result of the Town Meeting vote approving the new MWRA pump, increasing our capacity from approximately 500,000 gallons to 2 million gallons. If you’re following developments around the country, these are the types of conditions that have preceded data center proposals elsewhere. Couple that with a public press release from one of the town’s largest corporations announcing its increased involvement in data centers, and it seems to many of us paying attention that one is most certainly on the horizon.
I attended the Economic Development Committee meeting after it was announced at the June 8 Select Board meeting that proposed language might soon be presented. At the committee’s June 16 meeting, that language was discussed but ultimately not moved forward after several members commented that it seemed too complex. Instead, the committee voted to recommend that the Select Board call a Special Town Meeting for a moratorium as we wait for language defining what a data center is. Since a Special Town Meeting generally takes about 45 days to schedule, I would have preferred to see the committee first agree on a framework for a definition, allowing final language to be completed in July and a Special Town Meeting to be held around September.
That discussion prompted me to speak during public comment. I urged the committee to settle on a definition and presented language that I had submitted earlier in the week. My proposal was intentionally simple and written in the same format as our existing bylaws. I encouraged the committee to use it as a framework while also recognizing the businesses already operating in Wilmington. It is important to prevent data centers from coming to town, but we also must ensure that some of our largest taxpayers are not unintentionally affected simply because they maintain large server or network rooms that support thousands of employees.
On June 22, I again addressed the Select Board during public comment, this time challenging the Board to move quickly on rezoning Industrial Way. I referenced a press conference held by the Mayor of Woburn announcing that MassDOT had entered into an agreement for an additional 400 housing units just across the New Boston Street Bridge. I also pointed out that the new bridge is being designed to be pedestrian-friendly and asked why that might be when there is currently very little on the Wilmington side for pedestrians to walk to. My educated guess is that significant plans already exist for the short stretch of Woburn property on the Wilmington side of the bridge that will ultimately benefit Woburn.
That is why I am once again challenging the Select Board. The town cannot remain on its current reactive course. Residents continue to struggle with rising property taxes, and the only long-term solution is to grow the commercial tax base so that it carries a larger share of the levy. Wilmington needs to be proactive in protecting its interests in this section of town. Within the next few years, thousands of people will be living in that immediate area. We should be exploring whether all or part of the Industrial Way corridor should be rezoned into a more neighborhood-friendly commercial district that allows destination shopping, restaurants, attractions, and, if appropriate for Wilmington, carefully planned multi-unit housing. Sitting on our hands will not benefit our town.
Economic development remains, in my opinion, the single most important issue facing Wilmington’s future. Compare Wilmington to Burlington and Woburn. Both communities have a substantially lower residential millage rate than Wilmington while also maintaining a slightly lower commercial millage rate. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened through years of thoughtful planning and investment in economic development.
While Wilmington is fortunate to be served by a dedicated volunteer Economic Development Committee, I believe it’s time to begin discussing the hiring of a full-time economic development manager with the experience to identify opportunities, draft bylaws that protect residents from future challenges such as data centers, and guide the transformation of our underutilized industrial areas into thriving commercial districts. That type of long-term planning will strengthen our commercial tax base, help ease the burden on residential taxpayers, and better position Wilmington for the future.
My submitted language below:
Article 1
Definition of Data Center
“Data Center” shall mean any building, structure, facility, addition, installation, or portion thereof that is used for the processing, storage, transmission, management, hosting, training, inference, distribution, or computation of digital information through computer servers, data storage equipment, networking equipment, graphics processing units (GPUs), artificial intelligence computing systems, or similar computing infrastructure, and which meets both of the following criteria:
(a) More than 5,000 square feet of floor area is dedicated to, occupied by, or functionally supporting such computing infrastructure, including but not limited to server rooms, equipment rooms, data halls, network rooms, battery rooms, electrical rooms, cooling systems, mechanical systems, and other support facilities serving the computing operation; and
(b) The aggregate existing, proposed, approved, reserved, or designed electrical service capacity dedicated to such computing infrastructure exceeds 2 megawatts (MW).
For purposes of this definition, floor area and electrical capacity shall be calculated on a cumulative basis and shall include all buildings, structures, facilities, additions, installations, phases of development, or portions thereof located on the same lot or on contiguous lots under common ownership, lease, management, or control.
A facility meeting the criteria set forth herein shall constitute a Data Center regardless of whether such facility is described, classified, permitted, operated, or marketed as a research and development facility, laboratory, artificial intelligence research facility, manufacturing support facility, cloud computing facility, office use, telecommunications facility, technology center, innovation center, or any other similar designation.
The determination of whether a facility constitutes a Data Center shall be based upon its physical characteristics, electrical capacity, computing infrastructure, operational use, and supporting systems, and shall not be determined by the title, description, business purpose, or designation assigned by the owner, operator, tenant, applicant, or any other party.
The term “Data Center” shall not include ordinary server rooms, telecommunications rooms, network closets, security systems, building automation systems, or other computing infrastructure that is accessory to and customarily incidental to the principal use of a building, provided that such accessory infrastructure does not cause the facility to exceed the thresholds established herein.
Article 2
Prohibited Use
Add the following to section 3.1
Notwithstanding any provision of the Wilmington Zoning Bylaw to the contrary, Data Centers, as defined herein, shall be prohibited in all zoning districts within the Town of Wilmington.
No special permit, site plan approval, variance, building permit, occupancy permit, or other municipal approval shall be issued for the construction, establishment, expansion, conversion, operation, or use of a Data Center within the Town.
No building, structure, facility, addition, installation, or portion thereof shall be constructed, altered, expanded, occupied, or used in a manner that would cause such building, structure, facility, addition, installation, or portion thereof to meet the definition of a Data Center as set forth in this Bylaw.
Sincerely,
Rob Fasulo
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