Main Street in Wakefield. Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
South Kingstown doesn’t have a data center, and under a rule the Town Council passed last month, it would be very hard to ever get one.
The council voted unanimously on Oct. 26 to define data centers as an industrial use and prohibit them in every zoning district in town. The change took effect when it passed. Town Solicitor Amy Goins told the council that the use table “would prohibit data centers in each and every zoning district,” according to a meeting recap.
There are only two ways around it. A developer could ask the council to change the zoning, or apply for a use variance, which Goins described as a much higher bar than the dimensional variances homeowners get for a deck or a setback. To win one, an applicant generally has to show the property can’t be put to any beneficial use otherwise.
Water and power
Council Vice President Michael Marran brought the proposal in August. His reasoning was about utilities more than looks or noise. Data centers use enormous amounts of electricity and, for cooling, water. “We’re already in a drought situation,” he said.
That point lands hard in South Kingstown this year. The same meeting included a tense update from Veolia, the private company that supplies water to a large part of the town, about how it communicated during the summer drought. Chris Jacobs of Veolia said the state drought steering committee kept its advisory in place at an Oct. 20 meeting and that one more good month of precipitation might let it be lifted in November. Odd-even outdoor watering limits are still on. Veolia is drilling test wells for a new supply, Jacobs said, but that kind of project usually takes three to four years because of testing and permitting.
Three residents spoke in favor of the ban. Two asked whether battery storage facilities would be covered, pointing out that Charlestown had dealt with them. Goins said the ordinance only covers data centers and that she’d look into battery storage. Small server rooms in local businesses aren’t affected.
Water on the agenda, again
The council also spent money on the town’s own water system that night. It approved up to $169,000 for GZA GeoEnvironmental to study the Factory Pond Wellfield, including a $35,000 contingency. Public Services Director Richard Bourbonnais said the study will look at PFAS, iron and manganese, how much the wells can produce, and what filtration would cost to build and run. It will be paid with PFAS settlement money, and results are expected around spring. The wellfield serves about 2,800 accounts.
Councilor Deborah Bergner said she had heard estimates of $15 million to $17 million just to remove iron and manganese, and that residents need real numbers. Separately, the council accepted a $200,000 Restore America’s Estuaries grant for a flooding and stormwater study of the Saugatucket River watershed, with the town putting up as much as $66,000.
Part of a wider pushback
South Kingstown isn’t alone in getting ahead of the issue. Towns and counties across the country have been writing data center rules as tech companies hunt for land, power and water to run AI computing. Some places have chosen zoning limits instead of bans; others have tried to court the projects for tax revenue.
For South Kingstown, the council’s message is simple: with wells under stress and a drought advisory still in place, the town isn’t interested in hosting one of the thirstiest kinds of building there is.
Bergner, the top vote-getter in the Nov. 3 council election, has said she’ll seek the council presidency again when the new council organizes.
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