QTS Data Center Expansion Vote in East Windsor Postponed to Third Meeting
April 29, 2026
QTS Data Center Expansion Vote in East Windsor Postponed to Third Meeting
The East Windsor Township Planning Board has delayed a decision on QTS Data Centers' proposal to build a second facility on its existing campus in New Jersey, pushing the vote to a third meeting after failing to conclude public testimony during an April 27 session. The postponement underscores growing local scrutiny over data center development, as residents voice concerns about potential utility cost increases and environmental impacts.
QTS plans to expand its footprint at 159 Princeton-Hightstown Road in East Windsor, where it already operates a data center on a 52-acre property with over 70MW of critical power capacity and an on-site substation. The proposed second building would add significant capacity to a site already central to the company's regional operations, which include facilities in Jersey City and Piscataway.
During the heated April 27 meeting at the East Windsor Senior Center, every seat was filled as residents pressed for answers. A key concern centered on whether the project would drive up local utility bills. In response, Matthew DeCourcey, vice president at Charles River Associates, speaking on behalf of QTS, attempted to reassure the crowd that the expansion would not lead to higher costs for residents. The company has committed to covering all infrastructure expenses tied to the data center and to paying the same electricity rates as other commercial businesses.
To address environmental worries, QTS said the facility would use a closed-loop cooling system to minimize water usage. Joe Horesco, a mechanical engineer for QTS, told attendees that noise levels would remain under 200 decibels even in worst-case scenarios, and that vibration would be kept between 2,000 and 4,000 micro inches per second. Meanwhile, Robert LaCosta, senior director at QTS, highlighted the economic benefits, stating that the data center would generate $2 million in annual tax revenue for the region and contribute approximately $300,000 to the township’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
With testimony incomplete, the board took no vote and rescheduled the matter for its May 4 meeting. The delay reflects a broader trend of increasing community engagement in data center siting decisions, particularly in New Jersey, where most facilities cluster near the New York border to leverage proximity to stock exchanges. Operators such as CyrusOne, Digital Realty, Equinix, Cogent, and DataBank also maintain a presence in the state. Earlier this month, QTS moved to raise $4.6 billion through a 10-year investment-grade green bond to fund its AI data center build-out, signaling the company's aggressive growth ambitions amid rising demand for compute infrastructure.
Source: datacenterdynamics
