Officials in Andover Township, New Jersey, are considering banning all data centers after tensions over a potential facility led to a man’s arrest at a town committee meeting in early May.

On May 7, the township committee was considering whether to pass an ordinance that would establish additional standards for a potential data center development on a 97-acre land parcel at 248 Stickles Pond Road, formerly occupied by Newton Airport, otherwise known as Jump Airport.

This ordinance would have required the implementation of a closed-loop water cooling system, noise controls, and electric service and substation requirements.

Other legislation relating to the height of a potential data center and its tax burden had already been considered at previous meetings.

But tensions reached a boiling point during the public comment section of the meeting, where resident Shane Connolly finished his speech by saying “was that so fucking hard?”

The mayor then told police officers to get Connolly out, according to a report by PIX11.

Videos uploaded online show officers attempting to escort Connolly out of the building before tackling him to the floor.

Three days after the meeting, Mayor Thomas D. Walsh and Deputy Mayor Krista Gilchrist released a statement saying that the township was introducing an ordinance to ban data centers in the township.

“No project, no money is worth tearing a town at its seams. Myself and some of the members of the committee – you don’t run for township committee and expect to have this kind of discourse. You don’t expect your life to be threatened, to get death threats to your family, your spouse, your children,” said Walsh.

“A divided community over land development is detrimental, as such divisiveness [detracts] from a great community.”

This ordinance was introduced on May 12, and it would “include and designate data centers as a prohibited use in all zones within the township.”

This is set to be voted on at the committee’s May 28 meeting.

But in the statement, Deputy Mayor Gilchrist said that the committee’s support for the police officers was “unwavering,” arguing that they were being wrongfully vilified.

Gilchrist also accused unnamed advocacy groups of “agitating people from other towns for their political interests and not the interests of Andover Township residents.”

Local government meetings about data centers can occasionally turn violent.

Three women were arrested in Port Washington, Wisconsin, last December after police alleged that they had disturbed the meeting. Video footage of the incident – which shows officers dragging the women out of the promises – was widely shared.

In February, a man was arrested at a meeting about a proposed facility in Claremore, Oklahoma, after he spoke for 30 seconds longer than the allotted time. Police then handcuffed and escorted the man out of the room, and he was charged with trespassing.

Some local officials have also become targets for intimidation.

In January, Anthony P. Hinojosa, a resident of Troy, Illinois, was arrested after he threatened to use a firearm to kill City of Troy officials or contractors who were considering a data center proposal put forth by Cloverleaf Infrastructure.

In April, the home of a city councilor in Indianapolis was shot 13 times by an unknown attacker. A “NO DATA CENTER” sign was found at the doorstep.

Anger towards data centers has also led to an attempted arson attack at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.