Data Center Development: New Jersey’s Noise Regulations and a Wave of Municipal Bans

Developers of data centers, particularly the hyperscale facilities built to serve artificial intelligence workloads, face a regulatory landscape in New Jersey that increasingly determines where, and whether, these projects can proceed. While the state's noise standards are objective and relatively permissive, a growing list of municipal ordinances prohibiting data centers outright means that compliance with state decibel limits no longer predicts project viability.

New Jersey's Noise Control Act of 1971, N.J.S.A. 13:1G-1 et seq., authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to establish statewide noise standards, codified at N.J.A.C. 7:29. For stationary commercial and industrial sources, a category that captures data centers and their generators, chillers, cooling towers, and rooftop HVAC arrays, the regulations limit continuous airborne sound at a residential property line to 65 dBA during daytime hours (7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.) and 50 dBA at night. Enforcement largely runs through county and local health agencies, with NJDEP retaining oversight.

The nighttime 50 dBA limit is the operative constraint for data centers. Unlike most industrial uses, a data center's sound profile is continuous and the low-frequency character of the facilities’ equipment has drawn complaints even at technically compliant levels.

Recently, more consequential actions beyond decibel limits have occurred at the municipal level. In February, Pemberton Township in Burlington County became the first New Jersey municipality to prohibit the construction and operation of data centers. Phillipsburg Township in Warren County followed with a ban covering all zoning districts, and the city of Millville in Cumberland County adopted a citywide ban after a month of public debate, a vote that effectively ended a proposed facility of roughly 2.6 million square feet. The count of municipal bans has grown to roughly three dozen, including the ordinance Jersey City adopted in August, which bars standalone facilities while allowing certain co-location uses. While the State has left the decision whether to prohibit these facilities to local governments, on August 27, 2026, Governor Sherrill signed legislation requiring data centers to report their energy and water use to the Board of Public Utilities on a semiannual basis.

These measures do not displace state noise regulation; the N.J.A.C. 7:29 standards remain the enforceable floor everywhere. Rather, they operate through municipal land use law. By eliminating data centers as a permitted use, a municipality removes the project from as-of-right development entirely, relegating a proponent to the use variance process. As a result, data center development has now shifted from merely a compliance question measured in decibels to a land use question resolved by a local board weighing community impacts.

These bans have also begun to draw litigation. Monroe, Montgomery, and Andover Townships have each been sued by developers challenging their prohibitions as arbitrary and unsupported by sound planning. The outcome of those cases remain to be decided.

Three points follow for any party evaluating a New Jersey data center site. First, zoning diligence must now take an even larger role in planning: the threshold question is whether the use is permitted at all, and whether a municipal ban or moratorium is pending. Second, acoustic engineering should be front-loaded and documented, with sound modeling against both state and local limits and attenuation measures (equipment selection, setbacks, generator enclosures, etc.) incorporated into the initial site plan rather than retrofitted after complaints. Third, community engagement has become a de facto element of the approval process.

The reality is that a data center project in New Jersey can satisfy every state noise standard and still fail at the local level. Parties on either side of a proposed project should assess both layers of regulation, and consult experienced land use counsel and acoustic professionals, early in the process.

If you have questions about how your project may be impacted by this changing landscape, please contact Amie C. Kalac (AKalac@cullenllp.com), Neil Yoskin (NYoskin@cullenllp.com) or Paul Recupero (PRecupero@cullenllp.com).

Please note that this is a general overview of the law and no content within this excerpt constitutes legal advice. Nothing herein creates an attorney-client relationship between the authors and the reader.