A Seacoast entrepreneur says that building a data center in Nottingham, N.H., would be a win for the town.

Thomas Moulton is proposing to build the facility on a stretch of Route 4. The projectโ€™s announcement is stirring opposition from some residents, who warn that data centers draw huge amounts of power and water.

But Moulton says he hasnโ€™t been able to share all the positives the project could bring, including increased tax revenues.

โ€œI havenโ€™t even had my voice heard yet, and everybody is coming out of the woodwork, and they want to lynch me,โ€ he said. โ€œItโ€™s like, โ€˜Come on people, relax.โ€™ โ€

The Nottingham Planning Board is holding its first public hearing on theย proposalย on Wednesday evening. All the attention and online criticism led authorities to move the meeting to a larger venue, and it will be held at the Nottingham School at 6:30 p.m.

Ellen White, town administrator in Nottingham, said the town has received an outpouring of public response to the proposal.

โ€œItโ€™s been statewide,โ€ she said. โ€œEverything has been in opposition to it.โ€

The town is aware of a planned protest outside of Wednesdayโ€™s meeting.

Moulton is coming before the planning board for a โ€œconceptual consultationโ€ regarding a data center at the Nottingham Business Park. Itโ€™s a preliminary step in which the board and the applicant will discuss it in conceptual form, White said.

โ€œItโ€™s a request for an informal conversation with the planning board: โ€˜Hey, this is my idea,โ€™ โ€ White said.

The discussion itself is not a public hearing. Town residents will be allowed to comment during a general public comment session near the end of the meeting.

Nottingham Business Park is located off Route 4. The land in question was once proposed as a water bottling site for USA Springs, a controversial project in the early 2000s that never came to fruition.

Nottingham sits about 30 minutes from both Concord and Portsmouth. According to the Strafford Regional Planning Commission, which provides planning services to Nottingham on a contractual basis, theย town was the first municipality in the U.S. to institute mandatory recycling.

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