Data centers have become one of the hottest topics at planning boards across the country, and Concord is no exception, even when the project on the table is small. Developers brought plans for a proposed "micro data center" before the Concord Planning Board on Wednesday night, and after several hours of public comment the board held off on a decision, WMUR reported.
Instead, the board decided the applicants must study the project's environmental and energy impacts in more depth through a third party. A final decision is now expected at the board's Nov. 18 meeting.
What's proposed
The applicants are Levitate Inc., which WMUR describes as an AI infrastructure company, and Northpoint Engineering. They want to turn a vacant 21-acre lot on Locke Road into a micro data center with a caregiver unit.
According to submitted documents cited by the station, the building would be nearly 8,160 square feet, with more than 7,000 square feet of it used as a "mini data center." That is a far cry from the sprawling, warehouse-scale campuses that have drawn headlines in other states.
The developers told the board the facility would not be permanently connected to the municipal water system and would have a relatively small footprint compared with a traditional data center.
"We have some data centers that use up to 9 billion gallons of water and an incredible amount of power. This is the opposite of that design," Levitate CEO Ryan Howard said at the meeting, according to WMUR. He added that the data center "will be quieter than the freeway that's adjacent to it."
Residents push back
Many Concord residents weren't convinced. Several spoke against the plan during the meeting.
"We don't really know what it's going to do with the environment," Maureen Herrick, who said she lives a mile from the site, told the board. She called the effort "disrespectful to the residents of Concord" and said she doesn't believe the project belongs in the city.
Noise was among the concerns raised, along with questions about whether the facility would grow over time. WMUR reported the applicants said expansion isn't part of the plan right now, but they did not explicitly rule it out.
Why a third-party review matters
The board's call for an outside review is worth paying attention to. Third-party reviews of environmental and energy impacts are becoming a common step as local boards try to get their arms around a type of project many of them haven't dealt with before. For applicants, it can mean more engineering work, more studies and more time before a shovel goes in the ground.
WMUR's report did not include a construction cost, a builder or a timeline for the project if it is approved. Those details may surface as the review moves forward and the application comes back before the board.
What to watch
The next milestone is the Nov. 18 planning board meeting, when the board is expected to make its decision. Contractors interested in the job, or in the small-format data center market in general, should keep an eye on the city's planning board agenda and any revised filings from Levitate and Northpoint Engineering before then.
Why it matters for contractors
Not every data center is a billion-dollar hyperscale campus. A building in the range of 8,000 square feet is the kind of project a regional general contractor, electrical sub or mechanical sub can realistically chase. Even a small data center tends to be heavy on power distribution, backup power, cooling and controls, which puts electricians and HVAC contractors near the center of the job.
At the same time, Concord shows how quickly public opposition can slow down even a modest proposal. Contractors bidding on or partnering in data center work should plan for longer approval timelines, outside studies and community questions about noise, water and future expansion. Builders who can help an owner answer those questions with solid numbers, such as noise levels, water use and power demand, will be worth more to the project team.
The board's Nov. 18 decision will show whether a smaller footprint is enough to win local approval in New Hampshire's capital city.