Residents of Cromwell, Connecticut are organizing against a planned data center campus on a 159-acre site off Geer Street, adjacent to the town's middle school and parks, even though no formal zoning application has yet been submitted. Global Common LLC, a Long Island-based energy services company, has advertised plans for a facility that would deliver up to 300-plus megawatts of IT power at full buildout, powered by fuel cells supplied by natural gas from three Enbridge interstate pipelines; the company says it intends to file for site plan approval in early 2027. A planning and zoning commission voted 5-2 to reject a proposed one-year moratorium on data centers last month, and a community group called Stop Cromwell CT Data Center has been organizing opposition online. Mayor James Demetriades noted that no formal application has been submitted and that any proposal would go through a public hearing process once filed.
The Cromwell situation illustrates a growing pattern where developers publicly market data center projects before seeking permits, leaving communities little formal recourse while opposition hardens. The 5-2 rejection of a moratorium shows local officials are not universally receptive to slowdowns, even as resident pressure intensifies across Connecticut.
Community alarm over the sheer size of a proposed Connecticut data center represents geographically distinct opposition coverage not already in the Digest, adding a New England angle to the ongoing national backlash story.