Groton — The Town Council will hold a meeting next week to vote on a revised proposed data center agreement for land south of Interstate 95 between Hazelnut Hill and Flanders Roads, after the developer requested the council make a decision soon.

Thomas Quinn, manager of NE Edge LLC, which is seeking the host fee agreement with the town, said he is working with a very large data center company and some preliminary siting decisions will be made by the end of the first quarter, which he said is fast approaching.

Town Mayor Juan Melendez Jr. said at Tuesday night's Town Council Committee of the Whole meeting that NE Edge LLC had contacted him this week to request that the council vote next week on a final agreement. Melendez asked the councilors for a consensus about whether or not they were prepared to vote next week, with Councilors Rachael Franco, Juliette Parker, Bruce Jones, Melinda Cassiere and David McBride in favor of holding the meeting.

Town Manager John Burt said he has been working with Quinn to incorporate ideas from councilors and the public into the draft agreement. Burt said he is meeting with Quinn on Thursday to hammer out more details of the proposed agreement. Burt said he's not yet satisfied with the language, but they might be able to get through the latest issues on Thursday. 

Eric Callahan, an attorney for the town, would then take a look, and they would be able to distribute the proposed document to Councilors on Friday.

If approved, the agreement would be the first step before the developer then seeks land use approvals, sets the criteria to potentially locate one data center or more on the land and sets the revenue the town would receive in lieu of taxes, Burt has said. State legislation allows for 20- to 30-year tax exemptions, and Quinn said he envisions the data center proposal would bring about $1.5 million in annual revenue to the town.

McBride said he has questions and concerns regarding the proposed agreement and overall plan, but he supported taking the vote because he thinks it's the job of the councilors to make those decisions.

"I still have a lot to review as well but I think that gives us ample opportunity, and the public has had time to provide feedback because they’ve provided us a vast amount of feedback," added McBride, who said he's not a "yes" or "no" on the agreement at this point.

Franco confirmed that the council will have the opportunity next week to discuss the proposed agreement in a Committee of the Whole meeting and then can vote, so she said she's in favor of moving forward with the meeting.

But Councilors Scott Westervelt and Aundré Bumgardner both said they were not in favor of holding a meeting until they have time to read the document. Councilor Portia Bordelon also said she feels the councilors should have a chance to fully vet the document and for the public to comment.

Several councilors said they have walked the property, and Jones also visited data centers in New York and New Jersey with Representative Town Meeting member Edward Jacome to get comparisons on the size of data centers and how much noise they produce.

"NE Edge team appreciates the Town Council advancing this project to a (host fee agreement) vote along with each and every Councilor's efforts, and the Town Manager's substantial time commitment," Quinn said in an email Wednesday. If the agreement advances, he said the NE Edge team "looks forward to working with Groton and the boards necessary to achieve final approvals and will do our very best to be good neighbors."

He said about 20 companies are assessing the opportunity throughout Connecticut to build data centers. "Groton offers some unique benefits including main trunk fiber," he said, among other assets.

People raised concerns at a Feb. 24 public presentation about the potential impact of the data center proposal on the environment, including electricity, water use and possible effects on wells in nearby neighborhoods, as well as concerns about traffic and a loss of tax revenue. 

Labor unions said they were in favor of the development because it would bring good-paying jobs. Quinn has estimated that, depending on the size and type of the facility or facilities, it would bring about 80 to 160 full-time jobs.

Melendez had said the town officials got ideas from the meeting on how to improve the proposed agreement, but town officials were unlikely to meet the March 8 deadline that Quinn had been seeking.

During public comment during last week's Town Council meeting, people continued to raise concerns, from environmental impact to wanting more information about the developer's background, as well as some support for job opportunities.

Burt, Cassiere, Franco, Jones and Melendez said they met with Flanders Road neighbors to hear their questions and concerns during a Coffee with Councilors event at the Groton Public Library on Saturday.

Melendez said that after Quinn reached out to him to request the council vote next week, he brought the question to the council. But Melendez said that he personally was opposed to taking a vote next week, because he doesn't think he's confident that the proposal won't affect the neighbors, and he wasn't prepared to vote until he felt confident.

In a statement Wednesday, Bordelon said she was "profoundly disappointed" with the council's decision to go forward with the vote next week. She said a final revised draft of the agreement is not yet available for the councilors and the public to review, and councilors won't receive the document until late Thursday or Friday.

She said she would like to see the final revised draft go through "the regular steps, with at least two reads in successive COW (Committee of the Whole) sessions, a public hearing on a revised draft and then a vote at a regular Town Council (meeting) with public comment. Sadly, this does not seem likely to occur."

Bumgardner said Wednesday he has significant concerns with respect to the environmental impacts on the site and surrounding properties, including around the reservoir, Groton Open Space Association's properties to the south and residential neighborhoods.

"This is the largest development we've seen since Pfizer and Electric Boat broke ground on their facilities, so it's incumbent on the council to get this right," he said.

Melendez said the details of the time and date of next week's meeting, and whether or not there will be an opportunity for public comment, are still being worked out.

During next week's meeting, the council could take a vote or also could decide to table the issue, Melendez said.

The council did not have a regularly scheduled meeting for next week, so if the meeting were not scheduled, the data center agreement could have been on the agenda for the March 22 meeting or a later meeting, depending on what the council chose, town officials said.

k.drelich@theday.com