ROYALTON — Voters will be asked to approve a five-year moratorium on the construction of AI and Crypto Data Centers during Royalton Town Meeting.
The article would be nonbinding, which means that the Selectboard does not have to enforce it if it passes.
“This specific vote is turning it to the voters and asking whether or not they would like to have the town plan changed,” Town Administrator Ryan Britch said in a Friday morning phone interview.
The Selectboard placed the article — which requests that the moratorium be added to the Town Plan — on the warning after resident Jane Philbrick approached the governing body with her concerns about data centers during a January meeting. While Royalton does not have any data centers and none have been proposed in town, she encouraged the Selectboard to take a proactive approach.
“The forces that are coming to bear to make these happen are extraordinarily wealthy, have incredible political power, as well as financial power,” Philbrick said in a recording of the Jan. 13 Selectboard meeting.
She pointed to examples from other states where data centers were constructed and concerns about the land, water and electricity needed to operate such sites.
“I just think it’s prudent to have a safety check,” Philbrick said during the meeting.
Vermont has three data centers in South Burlington, Williston, and Stowe, according to Data Center Maps, a business that tracks data centers across the country.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 defines data centers as “any facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information, which may be (A) a free-standing structure; or (B) a facility within a larger structure, that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for the operation of electronic equipment,” according to a January 2026 report from the U.S. Congress.
State Sen. Becca White, a Hartford Democrat whose district includes Royalton, has proposed a bill that would place a statewide moratorium on the construction of data centers Vermont.
The bill, S.205, said the moratorium, which would expire July 1, 2030, was for “the purpose of allowing time for the Public Utility Commission to study the impact such centers would have in Vermont and make recommendations to the General Assembly for a regulatory regime that would best serve the general good of the State,” according to the draft legislation.
The bill, which is currently in the Senate Finance Committee, asks the Public Utility Commission to “develop findings and recommendations related to the impact AI data center deployment” would have in Vermont and to suggest regulations on the centers that “would best serve the general good of the State,” according to text from the bill.
In New Hampshire, some lawmakers are pushing to regulate data centers while others want to encourage developers to build them in the state, according to a September 2025 New Hampshire Bulletin article.
Philbrick brought up White’s bill during her presentation to the Selectboard.
“I just think it would be wonderful for our community … did something very local,” Philbrick said.
The Selectboard was amenable to Philbrick’s suggestion.
“I would like to adopt this right now,” Selectboard member Nell Gwin said during a recording of the meeting. “I think we should.”
The Selectboard discussed whether to put the article on the warning at its Jan. 27 meeting.
At first, some town leaders, including Britch, were worried that the process was moving too fast for voters.
“I don’t think it would be prudent to put this to a town vote without the Selectboard’s investigation review and a proper public outreach campaign conducted,” Britch said in a recording of the Jan. 27 meeting. “I have zero concerns with the merit. I 100% agree with her position. I just don’t think that the body… our voters… have been properly informed.”
Gwin encouraged her fellow board members to vote in favor of putting it before voters. Selectboard Chairman Patrick Dakin agreed.
“This process does inform the voters and it gives them a chance to weigh in,” he said in a recording of the meeting.
The Selectboard ultimately unanimously voted to add the article to the warning.
Voters will have a chance to learn more about it at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, during Royalton’s Pre-Town Meeting at White River Valley School, located at 223 S. Windsor St., in South Royalton.
The vote will take place during the floor portion of Town Meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 3, at White River Valley School.