Data Center Revealing Timeline
August 16, 2026 - Three days after the Holmdel Township Committee introduced an ordinance to ban data centers on July 21, 2026, an application was filed with the Holmdel Planning Board to subdivide a lot at Bell Works for a proposed 40-megawatt data center.
Before the public hearing on the ban ordinance, the Township went to considerable lengths to explain that, because of a series of behind-the-scenes interactions following the ordinance’s introduction, the “time of application” rule applies. In other words, the applicants may be allowed to proceed under the existing zoning rules rather than the new ban.
But that explanation may be more of a red herring.
Three days is an extraordinarily short time to assemble and file a major Planning Board application—particularly for a proposed 108,000-square-foot, 40-megawatt data center. If the applicants only learned of the ban ordinance on July 21 and then rushed to file before it took effect, the speed of that process would be remarkable.
More importantly, the application itself suggests that the project had been in the works for months.
After widespread public opposition to the large utility poles now being installed throughout Holmdel, the Township Committee issued a statement claiming it stands with residents in opposition to the project.
That statement came only after installation had begun and appeared inconsistent with comments from a JCP&L spokesperson, who told News12 that the company had been working on the project since 2023 and had coordinated with Township officials throughout the process.
Here are some of the facts we can glean from the application before the Planning Board:
April 7, 2026: JCP&L issued a “Will Serve” letter indicating that it would provide electric service to the site. A request for that commitment was presumably made weeks earlier, likely in March or before.
A Langan geotechnical memorandum referenced an April 18, 2026 “Test Pit Location Plan” depicting a two-story data center, a generator yard, and three proposed stormwater basins.
April 22–23, 2026: Six test pits were excavated at the site.
May 6, 2026: The applicant’s consultants met with NJDEP regarding wetlands and flood-hazard constraints.
June 10, 2026: Architectural plans were prepared showing a 108,000-square-foot facility, a 40-megawatt utility load, six generator positions and a 74-foot rooftop screen.
And then there is the April 28 Township Committee meeting.
At that meeting, resident Peter Franco asked the Mayor whether the Township could enact an ordinance banning data centers. The Mayor responded that the Township could adopt a future ordinance, but said he “doesn’t know whether he could go back into an existing redevelopment and open the books on it. It’s probably not the best thing to do, and I don’t see a need for that either.”
By April 28, we now know, the Bell Works data center proposal was already well underway.
That raises some important questions—especially because Somerset, the owner of Bell Works, has a history of keeping the Township Committee informed about its plans.
What did the Township Committee know, and when did it know it?
When did the Township Committee first become aware of the proposed Bell Works data center?
Why did it take nearly three months—from the April 28 discussion to July 21—for the Township Committee to introduce an ordinance banning data centers?
Why was the ban ordinance introduced on July 21, only three days before Somerset and co-applicant Terna filed their Planning Board application?
Did the timing of the ordinance’s introduction - and the subsequent application—allow the applicants to invoke the “time of application” rule and proceed under existing regulations?
And perhaps most importantly: Given that the 2012 redevelopment plan permits a data center and supersedes subsequent zoning restrictions, was the July 21 introduction of the ban ordinance simply a coincidence - or did the Township know that the Bell Works application was coming and act accordingly?
The public may never know the answer, but it deserves to know who knew about this project, when they knew it, and whether the three-day timing was a coincidence - or the predictable result of a project that had been in the works for months.
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