The study that Onondaga County will prepare on data centers will not advocate for or against them, county legislators were told at a meeting Wednesday.
“This is not a pro-data center study,” said county Planning Director Troy Waffner. “It is an effort to gather, evaluate, and synthesize available information in an objective manner so that local governments can make informed decisions.”
Data centers are huge warehouses full of computers, used to process the ever-increasing amount of data passing through the internet. They are very heavy users of power and water and tend to create few permanent jobs.
Local governments concerned about the impacts to their communities have begun to pass measures to delay or ban data centers. Waffner said in Onondaga County, five towns — DeWitt, Lysander, Manlius, Salina and Van Buren — have implemented one-year moratoriums on data centers and the town of Clay is considering one. He said the town of Skaneateles has banned data centers entirely. A bill mandating a statewide, one-year moratorium sits on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for her signature or veto.
Onondaga County cannot implement a countywide moratorium or ban, Waffner said, because state law leaves those decisions either to the state or to the most local unit of government — its cities, towns and villages.
“Let's not forget, municipalities are on the front line of this,” Waffner said. ”No matter what each of us thinks sitting at this table, we don't make those decisions."
He said the study will include information on how a local government could work with a data center, should that municipality want to host one.
“What we want to do is be able to give them the tools they need, the information they need, the analysis they need, so they can make the best decisions they can make going forward.”
The county will issue a request for proposals next week seeking a consultant to help prepare the report. The project will cost no more than $500,000, Waffner said, with some of that money reserved for helping local governments after the study is issued.
