Jersey City NJ data center ban in industrial zones (Ord. 26-057)
Jersey City, NJ — Ordinance 26-057: Data Centers and Cyber Hotels Removed as Permitted Principal Use in the Industrial District (August 19, 2026)
Jersey City, NJ · Jersey City, N.J. Ordinance 26-057 (Aug. 19, 2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Took effect
- August 19, 2026
- Applies to
- Developers seeking to establish data centers or cyber hotels as a principal use on Jersey City industrial land; city planning and zoning officials.
- Enforced by
- Jersey City Division of City Planning / Jersey City Council
The Jersey City Council voted unanimously on August 19, 2026 to bar new data centers from the city's industrial zones. Ordinance 26-057 amends the Land Development Ordinance to strike data centers and 'cyber hotels' from the list of permitted principal uses in the Industrial District. This is a permanent zoning change, not a temporary pause. It is also narrower than it first sounds: the city already has five data centers operating inside existing office buildings shared with other tenants, and those are untouched. What the ordinance stops is new standalone facilities taking industrial land. That framing is the point — Jersey City's industrial land is some of the last remaining in the city, and it had been open to a use that draws enormous electricity and water, occupies a large footprint and produces comparatively few permanent jobs. Jersey City is New Jersey's second-largest city and became the 34th municipality in the state to ban data centers; by that point more than a million New Jersey residents lived somewhere the facilities are prohibited.
Who is protected: Jersey City residents and ratepayers, through a permanent bar on new standalone data centers taking the city's remaining industrial land, with existing in-office facilities left in place.
Legal detail
City of Jersey City, N.J. Ordinance 26-057, introduced July 15, 2026 and adopted unanimously on final reading August 19, 2026. Amends the Jersey City Land Development Ordinance to remove 'cyber hotels' and data centers as a permitted principal use within the Industrial District. Permanent zoning amendment with no sunset. SCOPE LIMIT, material: five existing data centers housed inside occupied multi-tenant office buildings are unaffected; the prohibition reaches new standalone data center development on industrial land. Rationale recorded in the record and coverage: scarcity of remaining industrial land in the city, and the electricity, water, footprint and low permanent-employment profile of the use. Sequence position: 34th New Jersey municipality to adopt a data center ban, part of a statewide municipal wave that had passed 50 towns by late August 2026 — an outright-prohibition pattern that distinguishes New Jersey from the moratorium-led approach dominant in most other states. Ordinance text published by the city at cityofjerseycity.civicweb.net (Data Center Amendment).
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Jersey City, NJ |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Stronger |
| Enacted | August 19, 2026 |
| Citation | Jersey City, N.J. Ordinance 26-057 (Aug. 19, 2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Data centers and cyber hotels are not a permitted principal use in the Industrial District |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · government use of AI |
| News report | Jersey City Council Votes To Ban Data Centers On Industrial Property — News 12 New Jersey |
More AI rules in Jersey City, NJ
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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