Council approves 18-month data center moratorium

City Council · Meeting of October 7, 2026

Easthampton council enacted an 18-month data center moratorium and funded auditor backlog relief. The council voted 6-0 on a roll call to adopt Zoning Ordinance Section 10.11, pausing new data center approvals after unanimous recommendations from the Planning Board and the council's Ordinance Committee; sponsor Councilor Jamrod McQuaid cited "this really strong push to get these built and then the impacts that they're having on communities." Councilors separately approved, unanimously, a $9,540 transfer from the reserve fund to the city auditor's salary line, funding up to 120 hours of weekend work to clear a backlog tied to this year's override. Mayor Salem Derby said an outside consultant would have cost $22,000 to $40,000 instead.

School Committee member Sam Hunter said she was "really concerned about the lack of publicly available reports from the last year." The council also approved four mayoral appointments and the November 3 state election warrant.

In the full story:

• Ferry Street Sinkhole: An Aging Pipe Forces a Weeks-Long Closure
• Spectrum Correspondence: Broadband Upgrades and an Assistance Program
• Public Hearing: $9,540 Transfer to Clear Auditor Backlog
• Public Hearing: Temporary Moratorium on Data Centers
• Mayor's Report: Grants, Liquor License and Energy Aggregation
• Open Meeting Law Complaint and Committee Vacancies
• Committee Reports
• New Business and the State Election Warrant
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,134 words

Source: the City Council meeting of October 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.