Rules, Not Bans: A Smarter Approach to Data Centers in Western New York

Change Buffalo PAC Committee Report | October 19, 2026

The Situation

Western New York municipalities are lining up to pause data center development.

• West Seneca passed a one-year moratorium on data centers on October 5 by a 4-0 vote. It expires at the end of August 2027. Town Supervisor Gary Dickson said the pause gives the board time to develop standards on energy, water use and noise (Spectrum News). The Town of Tonawanda has also passed a moratorium.
• Hamburg holds a public hearing at 6:00 p.m. Monday, October 19, on a proposed local law for a one-year moratorium on approval and development of new large-scale data centers (The Buffalo News).
• Buffalo has taken the first step toward a two-year moratorium, but it still needs a local law. That law, drafted by the Corporation Counsel’s office, is to come before the Common Council for a formal vote, and the city’s data center rules will be developed by a nine-member task force with public and private sector members (WBEN; Spectrum News). As WBEN notes, data centers were not part of the picture when Buffalo wrote its Green Code a decade ago.
• Statewide, an executive order signed in July pauses the permitting process for up to a year to examine environmental impacts and create new regulatory standards (Spectrum News).

The concerns behind these pauses are real: noise near homes, heavy demands on the power grid and water supply, and the risk to neighborhood quality of life that Buffalo’s moratorium sponsor cited.

What It Means for the Change Buffalo Agenda

A pause can be useful. A ban is not a plan. Short, defined pauses to write rules are reasonable. The risk is that a patchwork of town-by-town moratoria becomes a standing “no” that sends investment, construction jobs and tax base to other regions, with no clearer standards at the end. Western New York has assets this industry looks for, including a cool climate, abundant fresh water and large former industrial sites. The question is not whether to allow data centers. It is where, under what rules, and with what return to the community.

The PAC urges every municipality using a moratorium to come out of it with clear rules, not a ban:

1. Clear siting rules. Write data centers into zoning by name, with plain standards for setbacks from homes, noise limits measured at the property line, screening, water use and closed-loop cooling, and grid-impact studies. Projects that meet the standards should get a predictable yes, which is the same principle behind our Permit Clock and Permit Timeliness and Transparency Ordinance.
2. Brownfields first. Steer large facilities to former industrial land with existing power and water infrastructure, and away from residential neighborhoods. That puts idle sites back on the tax rolls, consistent with our call to put vacant land and buildings back to work.
3. Community benefits, in writing. Tie any public incentives to published, enforceable commitments: local hiring and contracting, payments that reduce the burden on other taxpayers, heat-recovery or other shared-infrastructure benefits where feasible, and clawbacks if promises are not kept. Every deal should be public, as our IDA Accountability Local Law proposes.
4. One regional approach. Data centers draw on a shared grid and shared waters. Erie and Niagara municipalities should coordinate on common standards rather than compete through a patchwork, as our One Region, One IDA and regional agenda urge.

Our ask in Buffalo. Change Buffalo PAC is seeking a seat on the City’s data center task force, to help write rules that protect neighborhoods and keep Buffalo open to investment.

What Members Can Do

1. Hamburg residents: attend or follow the Town Board’s public hearing at 6:00 p.m. today, Monday, October 19 (The Buffalo News). Ask that any moratorium end with written siting standards, not an indefinite pause.
2. Buffalo residents: watch for the moratorium local law on the City meeting portal. Ask your district Council member to set a firm deadline for the task force, to include brownfield-first siting and community benefits in its charge, and to give the public a chance to comment on draft rules.
3. West Seneca and Tonawanda residents: ask your town boards how and when they will publish draft standards before the pause expires.
4. Lend your expertise. Engineers, planners, utility and energy professionals can help through our Professional Expertise Corps or a policy working group.
5. Join our Neighborhood Captains through our Get Involved page, or contact us.