Data center committee proposal sent to Holyoke City Council

The Ordinance Committee discusses the implementation of a data center study committee at its June 30 meeting.
Photo credit: Holyoke Media

HOLYOKE — Although Holyoke recently banned future developments of data centers in the city, the conversation regarding the controversial buildings continued during an Ordinance Committee meeting on June 30.

At that meeting, the committee sent a recommendation with amended language to the full City Council that allows the city to form a data center study committee. The council will vote on this proposal at a future meeting.

The discussion came days after the Holyoke City Council voted 9-4 in favor of banning future data centers during its June 16 meeting. During that same meeting, City Council President Tessa Murphy-Romboletti and City Councilor Meg Magrath-Smith filed an order to establish, by ordinance, a temporary ad-hoc committee to study and provide an analysis regarding the potential impacts of commercial data center development in Holyoke.

The committee, which would expire June 30, 2027, would make recommendations to the City Council about potential zoning and permitting requirements.

According to the order, the ad hoc committee would include one member from Holyoke Gas and Electric, Holyoke Water Works, or a member of the Water Commission; a member of the Massachusetts Green High Performing Computing Center; one member of the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Office of Planning and Development; a community member or resident appointed by the City Council president; and a member of the City Council.

The City Council approved sending the ad-hoc committee proposal to the Ordinance Subcommittee for further discussion.

During its June 30 meeting, the Ordinance Subcommittee kept a similar structure to the original order discussed by the full council and also specified that there will be seven community members who will serve on the ad hoc data center committee.

They also dropped the addition of a City Council member from the committee and added a member from the Board of Health or Health Commission.

Magrath-Smith said the goal is to make sure the proposed committee would follow Open Meeting Law.

“This means that these are open to the public, they’re posted, there’s minutes taken, and that means that it’s a transparent, public-facing process,” Magrath-Smith stated.

The conversation on June 30 lasted nearly two hours. Ten city councilors participated, along with Holyoke Water Works Acting Manager Joe Manzi, Planning Board member Rosanna Lopez, Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center Executive Director John Goodhue, Conservation Commission Chair Jeff Horan, Conservation Commission member Mary Moriarty and many members of the public.

Resident Susan Van Pelt sent an email to the Ordinance Committee with a few recommendations. She said the ad hoc committee should include a member from the Board of Health and increase the number of community members involved. She also argued that the committee should have a representative from the city’s planning side and said the appointment power should rest on the entire council, not just the president.

Horan said the council was wise to ban future development of the data centers in the city, but added that an ad hoc committee is important to have.
“Obviously, these data centers have a lot of impact on water use and electrical use, and it may be the data centers make sense for Holyoke, but I think that is something that has to be determined,” Horan stated. “I’m not sure what the [Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center] uses; we’d be interested to know that.”

Van Pelt and Horan noted that the ad hoc committee should include someone with technical expertise.

Magrath-Smith said that she took a lot of language for the draft from the Whiting Reservoir Study Committee when forming this proposal.