Tug-of-war erupts over huge stretch of N.J. land. Farmer’s paradise or a data center?

At first, signs that something was amiss behind Donna Zhang’s home were subtle. She saw a few work crews walking on the grass. And then, she could see the top of the hotel in the distance from her window — the Westin she could‘ve sworn was obscured by trees.

Zhang had no idea that Princeton University had sold the massive span of green space in Monmouth Junction to a private LLC.

Another surprise awaited.

A data center roughly the size of 7 football fields was proposed for the plot. The same plot that once served as Princeton Nurseries, the largest commercial nursery in the U.S. Now neighbors and environmental groups are launching a fight over the future of the land.

“We thought it was preserved at that time but turns out it’s not,” Zhang told NJ Advance Media from her backyard last week.

That’s partly true.

The sprawling soil-rich site, which once covered about 1,000 acres and employed 300 workers, was for decades primarily used for commercial farming. Princeton elm trees, “October Glory” maple and “Snow Queen” hydrangea once dotted the place, according to local historians and residents.

The former land owner “built a system of greenhouses, installed a vast irrigation network, and built a water system that not only provided water for the nursery and nursery houses, but also for the village of Kingston.”

In 1995, the business — in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick Township — relocated south to Allentown, and with that move went a uniform use of the land.

While much of the acreage was preserved, roughly 160 acres was saved by Princeton University for its own farming and other uses.

Now, a plan is on the table to turn 341,000-square feet of that land into a data center.

The site‘s redeveloper, WV RS South Brunswick Urban Renewal, LLC, proposed the project last summer — later posting signs on the border of the sizable tract so people don‘t trespass. It also started parking bulldozers at the site.

The LLC is made up of three companies — Woodmont Properties, Russo Development and Vision Real Estate.

“Overall this is a very quiet area and we see lot of species here. And as you can see ... they cut down all those trees. Before, a whole lot more were there ...,” said Zhang, who can no longer take her daily walk on the property.

Instead of thickets of trees, winding dirt trails and cone-shaped shrubs, a data center — which would be two-stories in one section — could take up a patch of the land.

Specifics for this site were not immediately clear, but data centers in New Jersey — some of which you’ve likely driven by without knowing — are unassuming warehouse-like structures made up of computers, routers, storage systems, servers and other hardware. Corporate office spaces that, depending on where they get their backup power, have been heard to hum like laptops when they’re overheating. Data centers help satisfy digital requests, needed more so now as the advent of artificial intelligence only continues to explode here and nationwide.

So will the South Brunswick site retain its farming (and most recently open green) history or turn into a hub for ever-growing data needs?

A data center debate

Several residents — some of whom have taken legal action — call the data center rushed, ill-considered and missing a full understanding of what environmental harms may come were it to be built.

But WV RS South Brunswick Urban Renewal, LLC, says it has followed appropriate protocols. That includes conducting an environmental analysis, providing ample chance for public comment and outlining the economic and other benefits of the center, representatives there said.

If constructed, the data center off Route 1 would join dozens such facilities in New Jersey and, considering their average size, be huge.

It’s unclear how much energy the South Brunswick center would use but data requests are often hefty. One energy supplier in February estimated that ChatGPT could use as much as 39.98 million kilowatt-hours per day — enough to charge 8 million phones.

The data center would also be one of possibly three more ultimately coming to the parcel, according to an attorney involved in the disputes over the property. The developer said additional data centers have not been applied for.

Teri Kleine, who lives nearby with her son, Baptiste Dejean, said when she first heard of the data center she was most concerned about potential noise.

“Because I have a son who is autistic and is very sensitive to noise,” Kleine said, noting she then grew worried over potential contamination.

Her neighbors, Mark and Katherine Smith, who have lived nearby since the 1990s and own about four-and-a-half acres, are suing over fears their plants, trails and the surrounding environment will be harmed by the proposal.

Their suit targets the redevelopment plan that allows the data center to be built in the first place. They want the project to be canceled, full stop, the attorney for the Smiths said.

“This land has always been farmed throughout human history,” Bruce Afran, the attorney, said on the phone. “(The data center would) cover an enormous amount of open land.”

The South Brunswick Planning Board advanced the data center earlier this year, however the Smiths’ lawsuit may stand in the proposal‘s way. The board referred questions to the town attorney, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There have been at least two environmental studies conducted at the property, one commissioned by its developers and one by the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, an environmentally-focused nonprofit.

The study from the firm hired by the nonprofit — which the attorney for the couple suing has cited as well — pointed to a range of potential negative effects. It raised concerns about issues like the impact of past pesticides and other contaminants that have been used on the site, and the effects on nearby groundwater.

Afran said a full listing of specific animal and plant species on the site and how new construction or emissions may impact them has not been determined.

What environmental engineers called “oversights” with the data center application may result in “tangible impacts” to the wetland ecosystems that flow into Heathcote Brook and the Delaware Raritan Canal, they wrote.

The Sierra Club has also brought up potential pollution from 20 planned backup diesel-powered generators slated for the data center.

“They don‘t have to go for the same permits as a power plant would currently,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, director of the nonprofit, “but they still need to permit each individual engine.”

The developer has called many of the projections over the potential environmental impacts “inaccurate,” and said plans are in place to address the parcel’s past.

“Over the years the site has been farmed, which operations included the use of typical historic fertilizers and pesticides, commonly used on similar farmed sites for decades. Extensive environmental testing throughout the site has located any areas where these pollutants remain,” a spokesperson for WRV RS South Brunswick Urban Renewal, LLC, said in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media.

Representatives for the developer said the data center would be built under the guidance of environmental consultants and a licensed site remediation professional.

Air quality, noise and stormwater rules and laws will be followed, they said, while providing an engineer‘s environmental impact statement. That statement did acknowledge the environmental impacts of the project.

A spokesman added that the land was set aside for such commercial uses, and the company said the data center will be a boon for the area.

“It will also be an excellent economic driver for the township as both a tax ratable and a source of quality jobs,” a spokesperson there said.

Princeton University, which sold the property in January 2024, declined to comment.

Residents, whether in the lawsuit or not, continue to wait for a legal decision or an update from regional environmental regulators, to figure out what the future of the large lot will be.

A planning board meeting, where officials will decide on the final site approval for the data center, is scheduled for May 14. The lawyer for the residents opposed to it said he doesn‘t expect the board to revisit the issues that were presented.

The proposal also raises issues facing other data center developments throughout the state. New Jersey is home to about 70 such centers statewide, and demand for more is growing.

Questions have risen about how future centers will get the massive amounts of power they need to operate.

For this project, the Sierra Club is rallying for the owner to replace the diesel-powered generators with solar and backup batteries instead, which the group says would help diminish the impact on air quality in the area.

More widely, legislators are also working now to require developers of new data centers — which need loads of processing power for AI-related requests — to get their energy from clean sources.

And while much of the Monmouth Junction data center project appears to be in flux, families who live near the site say crews have operated like it is full steam ahead.

“It was like it was a given,” said Kleine, who added she was disappointed by community meetings that were held to discuss the proposal.

“This was just gonna happen. We could voice whatever we wanted. Get whatever answers we wanted. But they weren‘t going to deviate from that plan.”

Stories by Steven Rodas

• It hit 93 degrees that day. An N.J. worker died in the blistering heat, OSHA says.
• N.J. weather: NJ Transit suspends North Jersey Coast Line train service due to damage from thunderstorms
• Massive N.J. country music beach festival evacuated due to thunderstorm threat

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @stevenrodas.bsky.social.