Bridgewater, NJ pulls data centers from last Route 22 site
Bridgewater Township cut data centers from the Greymark redevelopment plan at 1200 Route 22, closing the last site where a New Jersey data center was allowed.
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- Read original source · New Jersey 101.5
Bridgewater Township, N.J., has amended its Greymark Office Tract Redevelopment Plan to remove data centers as an allowed use, according to New Jersey 101.5. The council vote came the Thursday before the outlet’s Nov. 9 report, and it closes the last property in town where a data center was permitted.
Why it matters
The Greymark tract is a vacant site at 1200 Route 22, the former Greymark office building. The council adopted the redevelopment plan in 2025, and that version would have allowed a data center there. In September the council had already barred data centers from the rest of the township, so this vote removes the one remaining carve-out. Any future proposal would now need a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment, a harder and less predictable path than building by right.
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For developers hunting power-ready sites in the New York metro, the signal is that redevelopment zones are no longer safe harbors. Councilwoman Ridwana Isla cited infrastructure strain, neighborhood impact and strict oversight, and said hyperscale facilities “require substantial electrical grid capacity and millions of gallons of water for cooling systems.”
The numbers
New Jersey 101.5 reports that more than 100 New Jersey towns had banned data centers as of November 2026, a count attributed to Climate Revolution Action Network, Food and Water Watch and the Pinelands Alliance. Counts differ by source, so treat it as an advocacy tally rather than an official figure.
Public opinion points the same way. A Rutgers-Eagleton poll of 1,004 adults, fielded Sept. 24 to 27, found 72% opposed to a data center in their town or city and 21% in favor. The report notes that opposition softens only when a project is far from the respondent.
What’s next
Watch for use variance applications, which would turn Bridgewater into a test of how zoning boards treat data centers once the by-right route is gone. Elsewhere in the state, litigation is already under way: the same report notes a developer has sued over Andover Township’s ban, and Kenilworth has a CoreWeave data center under construction at the former Merck site.
State policy remains in flux. New York’s own pause is covered in our New York moratorium story, and our data centers coverage and New York market hub track both sides of the Hudson.
Sources
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