Groton — People packed a contentious meeting Thursday on a proposed data center agreement for land south of Interstate 95, a proposal that drew opposition over potential impacts to the environment but praise from labor unions, and questions overall.

NE Edge LLC under manager Thomas Quinn is requesting that the town approve a host fee agreement for one or more data centers on approximately 173 acres of land south of Interstate 95 between Hazelnut Hill and Flanders roads and above Groton Open Space Association's Sheep Farm and Sheep Farm South properties.

People raised dozens of questions and concerns during the 2½-hour meeting, from potential environmental impacts, including water use, electricity, the data center's carbon footprint and any possible well contamination, to concerns over traffic and a loss of tax revenue under the data center tax incentive program. Some called for the town to have more time and information before making a decision.

With many people signed up to speak, moderators called several times for residents to only ask questions, rather than make comments, but some residents said they should be given the courtesy of time to express their opinions.

Some in the audience praised the opportunity for good-paying jobs. Quinn said he has signed project labor agreements.

"I represent the Laborers' Union and I am strongly in favor for this project," Chad Brault said.

But many people, like Eugenia Villagra, a Groton resident and co-chair of Groton Conservation Advocates, raised the issue of the environmental impact from data centers. She noted that Groton recently passed a resolution to address climate change, resilience and sustainability as the central management principal for all town government actions.

She said data centers contribute to global warming, and she was concerned the proposed center would create a "heat island effect." She asked what Quinn would be doing to reduce the carbon footprint and also raised concerns about potential impacts on wetlands and noise and air quality issues. 

Quinn said he has added sound attenuation and environmental protection language to the proposed agreement. He said the proposed facility would be a "green building" that follows state and federal regulations. He said the facility will use air conditioning but, unlike facilities in the South, will not use massive amounts of water.

Quinn said NE Edge will be donating at least 50 acres to the town under the agreement. Separately, the company hopes to purchase a 17-acre town-owned parcel.

He said the company plans to place the facility away from a vernal pool.

Quinn said the developer will be responsible for utility upgrades, and some residents asked if they could have the benefit of hooking into the utilities since they will be dealing with the inconvenience of additional traffic from the data center. Residents also asked for assurances that their well water would not be contaminated.

The proposal follows recent state legislation that allows for tax exemptions for data centers for 20- to 30-year periods, as long as the developer meets a threshold of investment. Data centers, as defined in the legislation, are facilities for computer servers that centralize "the storage, management, and dissemination of data and information pertaining to a particular business or classification or body of knowledge."

Host fee agreements set the criteria to potentially allow a data center and establish the revenue the town will receive in lieu of taxes, Town Manager John Burt has explained. Quinn, who helped get the data center legislation passed in Hartford, said the size of the data center that NE Edge is looking to bring to Groton would yield about $1.5 million in revenue for the town each year.

Quinn estimates that, depending on the size and type of the facility or facilities, it would bring about 80 to 160 full-time jobs.

While a site design has not been submitted, he estimated a data center building would have a footprint of about 6 acres, plus parking and roads, but it depends on the company operator and what is proposed for the site.

Resident Lauren Gauthier, who is also a Representative Town Meeting member, asked how much the town would have earned in taxes without the tax exemption. Quinn said taxes would have been "substantially more" than the payment the town would receive, but he said the legislation was necessary for Connecticut to be competitive with the 34 other states in the country that offer data center incentives.

A question also was raised about why New England needs such facilities.

Quinn said New England does not have any "hyperscale data centers," though it does have smaller ones. He said "one-tenth of the entire United States population lives within 200 miles of this exact location."

"We're going to need to have that broad connectivity, almost like a public utility, coming up in the future," he said.

"It seems as though these data centers are a very sweet deal for the energy producers," resident Kevin Blacker said. "We heard earlier from a number of the labor unions that it's a very sweet deal for them. I would question whether it is for us the public."

"Is it time, considering the environmental harm to the site and from energy consumption and from consumables, that we as a society consider the environmental cost of our consumption of data?" Blacker added. 

Other companies

Groton also approved last year a host fee agreement with Gotspace Data Partners LLC for land off Route 117. Quinn was a former partner in Gotspace.

At one point during the meeting, Joseph Caldrello, who identified himself as a consultant representing Gotspace and Verde Group, asked Quinn "Who are you?" and "Were you the president of Verde Group?"

Verde Group, whose founder, Joel Greene, died last summer, is the subjection of litigation related to a proposed data center in Montville.

There is a lawsuit, by Vineyard Meadows Investment and Bruno Blanchet and scheduled for trial in July, against Greene, Verde JG LLC and Verde Group LLC, as well as another lawsuit by All of Us at North LLC against Mohegan Hill Montville LLC, Kleeman Farms LLC, Verde Group LLC and Joel and Donna Greene.

At the meeting, Donna Greene accused Quinn and his associates of destroying Verde Group and that "there was a theft of intellectual property."

Quinn said Friday that everything is in the public domain and permitting is public. Quinn, who said he was called the CEO of Verde Group, said he secured land permits for the Montville site and was paid as a consultant until a gas plant deal to power the center, which he was not involved with, fell through. He said he was not named in the litigation.

Town to gather more feedback, make changes

"The town received a lot of valuable input from the public at the data center presentation last night," Burt said Friday. "There are some items that will need to be addressed. I anticipate the Council will take the time needed to continue gathering input and reviewing potential agreement language prior to making any decisions."

Town Mayor Juan Melendez Jr. said the presentation was a success in the sense that they got a lot of great ideas on how to improve the proposed host agreement.

"We are working on making those changes now, and of course, we aren't done listening, all feedback is welcomed," he added. "That being said, we are unlikely to meet the developer's March 8th deadline. The work that needs to be done to get this agreement perfect is going to take more than two weeks."

If the council ultimately approves an agreement, the developer still would need approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Agency to construct the actual facility, said Jon Reiner, the town's director of planning and development services.

k.drelich@theday.com