Summit's Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday, July 28, to ban AI data centers in every zone in the city, making Summit the second municipality in the immediate area to block the facilities before any developer has filed an application.

The ordinance prohibits dedicated AI data centers as a permitted use across all zone districts. It also bars AI computing as an accessory use and caps conventional data processing at the lesser of 20% of a building's floor area or 1,000 square feet. Healthcare systems, corporate offices, and research firms that run standard server rooms for day-to-day operations are exempt.

"We were careful to protect Summit's tax-paying healthcare, corporate and research businesses that use conventional computer centers for their normal operations, while we prohibit AI data centers that would negatively impact our town," at-large Council Member Dan, who posts as @danforsummit on Instagram, wrote after the vote.

The council first introduced the ordinance unanimously on Thursday, July 9, and revised it before the final vote based on resident feedback and technical guidance, according to the council member's post-meeting recap.

Why the council acted preemptively

No developer has proposed an AI data center in Summit. But city planner Joe Burgess told the Planning Board at its June 29 meeting that data centers generate roughly one job per 5,000 square feet, far fewer than traditional office space, and that Summit has limited commercial land to spare.

"While data centers can generate a lot of construction jobs, once that's built, there's no jobs," Burgess said at the June 29 session, as reported by Patch.

The Planning Board's review also tightened the ordinance during its drafting phase. An earlier version allowed accessory server rooms up to 15,000 square feet or 20% of a building's total floor area; the board recommended reducing that cap before the measure went to the full council for introduction and final adoption.

How Summit's ban compares to Berkeley Heights

Berkeley Heights passed its own townwide data center ban unanimously on Wednesday, July 22, one week before Summit's vote, following more than an hour of public comment, TAPinto reported. That ordinance (2026-13) prohibits data centers as a permitted use in every zone.

Summit's version goes further on specifics: it explicitly bans AI computing even as an accessory use and sets a hard square-footage cap on conventional server rooms, rather than Berkeley Heights' broader "incidental and subordinate" standard.

The bans come as other New Jersey towns face pushback. Monroe Township in Gloucester County is defending a $300 million lawsuit from Hexa Builders LLC over its data center restrictions, and a developer sued Andover Township on July 10 to overturn its ban, according to GovTech. Summit officials have not publicly addressed litigation risk.

What's next

The Common Council's next regular meeting is Tuesday, August 4. The official meeting minutes from the July 28 vote had not been posted to the city's website as of Wednesday, July 29, and the city has not confirmed the ordinance's effective date.