‘It's not the right fit’: Salem mayor urges denial of permit for data center
Salem's Zoning Board of Appeals is set to vote on an appeal from Prime Group Holding to build a facility classified by the city as a data center after its initial permit was revoked. Mayor Dominick Pangallo is urging the board to deny the appeal, citing that the project is not suitable for the city's future, and has also proposed a city-wide ban on data center construction.
The Salem Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to vote Wednesday on an appeal filed by Prime Group Holding, a New York-based real estate company. The firm is seeking to build a 12,000-square-foot facility, which the city classifies as a data center, in the Shetland Park office complex.
Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo has publicly urged the board to uphold the revocation of Prime Group Holding's building permit. The permit, initially issued in May, was later revoked in late June by Salem Inspection Services after reviewing more detailed construction documents, which led them to conclude the project was a data center and non-compliant with local zoning. Mayor Pangallo emphasized that this project illustrates the need for a city-wide ban on data center construction, a zoning ordinance he proposed to the Salem City Council two months prior, though it has not yet passed. Prime Group Holdings CEO Bob Moser contests the city's classification, stating the facility is for a low-latency inference center, not a data center.
Pangallo highlighted Salem's history of intensive industrial uses and expressed a desire to avoid continuing that legacy, stating that data centers are not the right fit for Salem's future commercial growth. He noted that while Governor Maura Healey recently signed an executive order requiring community benefit agreements for pending data centers, he believes it may only apply to hyperscale facilities and might not impact this specific project due to its smaller size.