New data center development continues at a rapid pace. But that growth has brought rising public scrutiny, as communities and municipalities question the impact of power demand, water use, taxes, and other local pressures.. That tension is already visible in markets from Maine to California, where opposition to new development has slowed or paused some projects..
Against that backdrop, operators and developers are examining the main concerns around community engagement – and how the industry can better address them.. Community Concerns Come Into Focus. Speaking at this year’s Data Center World in Washington, DC, John Stephenson, senior vice president of public policy at Vantage Data Centers, said the industry is moving faster than ever before..
“Things are happening at lightning speed, in our industry and in the world,” Stephenson said. “Data centers are being built at a speed that we haven’t done as an industry before.. Related:Data Center Protests Are Growing.
How Should the Industry Respond?. “When I started at Vantage, if we had a request for a 64 MW facility, this was a great day for us. Now, the facility requests we’re getting are 500 MW, gigawatts, and in some cases, multiple gigawatts.”.
Stephenson added that the industry’s growth is unlike anything it has experienced before. “The speed and scale are unprecedented, and we need to figure out how to meet this moment better than we have in previous moments in the past.”. Ernest Popescu, founder and CEO of data center builder Metrobloks, said the biggest concerns he hears from communities center on affordability, utility pricing, and the sense that residents are being pushed aside by large technology companies..
“It’s a scary proposition,” Popescu said “There’s a lot of misinformation circulating. I think the hyperscalers and the developers tend to take a less-than-optimal approach in the sense that a lot happens behind closed doors.. “There’s a lot of education that can take place to help combat misinformation.
Communities aren’t feeling heard, and they aren’t being told what’s true,” he said.. Data centers face growing scrutiny as communities question their impact on energy, water, taxes, and local infrastructure. (Getty Images). Electricity Costs and Public Perception.
The Data Center World policy panel also focused on electricity rates, which have become one of the most politically sensitive issues around data center development.. Stephenson said the public concern is understandable in a period of inflation and rising bills.. “We are in a high inflationary environment around the world, and have been for several years due to the aftereffects of the pandemic.
People are price sensitive, and it’s natural that anything real or perceived as going to impact the bills they pay every day is going to have an impact.”. Related:Virginia Approves First-Ever Data Center Power Tax. While Stephenson argued that rising electricity costs are being driven by multiple factors, including fuel prices, grid modernization, electrification, consumer demand, and weather events, he also conceded that the data center industry has not always done a good job communicating that message..
“Historically, data centers have not been visible,” he said. “We’ve just done our land deals and get out of the way. That is not what we can do going forward.
We cannot be silent. We cannot be behind the scenes. We need to tell the story.”.
Stephenson said the industry must do a better job communicating those benefits. “We need to tell that we are improving the tax base. We are hiring good local union jobs.
We are investing in infrastructure. We’re improving roads. We’re contributing to the community.”.
Popescu said the challenge is intensified by a gap between state-level incentives and local perception.. “People are feeling the pinch,” Popescu said. “Costs are going up, salaries aren’t necessarily keeping up.
There’s a lot of skepticism around big tech. They are seeing all of these press releases and announcements of states rolling out incentives, abatements, exemptions to tax revenue to attract development, and they’re wondering, ‘Hey, why is Google and AWS getting a $100 million tax abatement when my bill is going up and I can barely afford to keep the lights on or, you know, put fuel in the car?’”.
Related:How Data Centers Can Be Better Neighbors: Building Community Trust. Popescu said the solution requires a more coordinated approach.. “I think it’s an interesting dilemma.
The solution is going to require collaboration, it’s going to require sacrifice, and I think the federal government has a role to play in this because there’s always been this competition.”. Making the Case for Local Benefits. Asked which benefits of data center development are most often overlooked, Stephenson said that operators are frequently misunderstood as high-impact projects with limited local value..
“We are a high-tax-paying, low-impact business. Each of our facilities brings good-paying jobs. Each also brings investment in the local surrounding community, whether infrastructure upgrades, roads, those things matter, particularly in some of these more remote, rural communities.”.
He pointed to Vantage’s work in Wisconsin as an example of a project designed to deliver broader community benefits alongside new digital infrastructure.. Stephenson also argued that some of the criticism reflects a wider issue: communities have heard big promises from other industries over the years..
“I firmly believe the reason is that communities have heard for so long [that benefits will come] – whether it’s from casino developments, or whether it’s from other big industry coming to their town. All the while they still sit there, and they look at their power bills, they look at gas prices, they look at taxes, and they [the new developments] continue to go up,” he said..
Certainty, Policy, and Collaboration. At Data Center World 2026, the panelists returned to one theme: certainty.. Stephenson said data center developers are making multibillion-dollar decisions years in advance, but often face permitting and policy systems that move too slowly..
“On permitting timelines, it takes years to build transmission lines. It takes years to build generation. It’s got to the point where we’ve had to look at self-generation solutions.”.
He said local zoning frameworks are often not built for projects at this scale.. “Most jurisdictions have not contemplated data centers at this scale before. There just aren’t zoning rules.
There aren’t zoning practices.”. Popescu said the policy response needs to be joined up across levels of government.. “I think it’s going to require collaboration from federal, state, and local government, along with a consortium of developers and hyperscalers getting together to explain the benefits, demystify some of the misinformation, and make sure that legislation and policy are cohesive and help everyone, not just a few,” he said..
Parker Slaybaugh, vice president at Link Public Affairs, echoed that view, saying the industry must help lower the temperature around the debate.. “Certainty is what everybody wants,” he said, adding that good projects must demonstrate their value locally if they are to win support..
The panel’s wider message was clear: the industry can no longer rely on private land deals or broad promises alone. As data center demand continues to surge, success will increasingly depend on showing up earlier, listening more closely, and making the case for development in terms that communities can see and feel..
That means more than better messaging. It means a more coordinated effort across developers, policymakers, and local stakeholders to align regulation, investment, and community outcomes.
