Planning Board backs townwide data center ban
Planning Board · Meeting of August 10, 2026
Grafton Planning Board scraps data center moratorium for a permanent townwide ban. The board voted 5-0 twice to send a zoning amendment banning data centers from every district to the October 19 Fall Town Meeting warrant, after Town Counsel Anthony Riley argued a moratorium was redundant once the use is banned outright: "Because you're banning it town-wide, it's not really a moratorium on anything." The board also began weighing changes to Massachusetts' Chapter 40A zoning act effective July 1, including a new "practical difficulty" variance standard and statewide residential use variances, targeting a Spring Town Meeting fix. In a separate 5-0 vote, the board determined the Woodland Hill subdivision, developed by Pulte Homes of New England, complete, with resident Vivek Hegde telling the board "we find that development being fully complete."
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,264 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of August 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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