Lock Road Micro Data Center

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and numbers may be misheard.

What: major site plan, architectural design review and conditional use permit for an 8,160-square-foot "micro data center" with office, garage and one caretaker unit on about 20 acres at the end of Lock Road in the industrial district (tax map 40, lot 6). The conditional use permit covers restoring about 54,780 square feet of wetland buffer cleared by a previous owner.
Where it stands: public hearing opened October 21, 2026 and continued to a date certain of November 18 with no decision. The application was accepted as complete September 16, so the 65-day review clock runs to about November 20 unless the applicant agrees to extend it.
Next: the board asked the applicant for information from the local electric utility or an independent expert, data on comparable facilities, noise comparisons and fluid, containment and decommissioning plans. Further public comment is expected, since not everyone who wanted to speak was heard.

Staff memo of June 26, 2026 classified the use as a data processing use that is a permitted principal use in the industrial district, so no use variance was required. The Zoning Board earlier approved the caretaker unit by special exception.
About 7,220 square feet is data center space; 15 megawatt transformer; closed-loop liquid cooling with about 6,300 gallons filled once, dry coolers and enclosed emergency generators behind the building; municipal water only for fire suppression and the caretaker unit; no tax incentives requested.
Applicant team: Ari Pollock (attorney), Jeff Lewis (civil engineer) and Ryan Howard (data center design). Howard put the load at roughly 350 homes; speakers cited far higher figures (about 1,250 to 14,000 homes).
Only two waivers (sidewalks along Lock Road, which has none) are requested and staff supports them. The Conservation Commission recommended approval of the buffer work; design review asked for dark, matte finishes on outdoor equipment and fencing.

Whether this is truly "micro" at 15 megawatts and up to about 1,000 servers, and how it compares with other power users.
Electric rates and utility upgrades: a board member said the utility told her costs would fall on the applicant; several speakers wanted this in writing or from an independent source.
Noise (applicant: about 45 to 50 decibels, against about 65 from the highway), waste heat near wetlands, conservation land and the Merrimack River floodplain, roughly 12,600 gallons of diesel in generators (a speaker's reading of the application), unnamed cooling fluid and spill or decommissioning plans.
Few jobs, being first in New Hampshire, a possible state moratorium, and a request to wait for the master plan.
Board and staff notes: the applicant's complete application is protected from later zoning changes; denial would be hard because the use is permitted and the waivers are minor, but the board may request studies under its site plan regulations. The board can start a zoning amendment that would apply to future projects. Tim Thompson explained the process.

About 153 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-21 - Planning Board	153

2026-10-21 - Planning Board - Long public hearing (about 17 speakers, nearly all opposed). Continued to November 18 with a list of information requests; no vote on the merits.