EAST GREENWICH, NJ – May 15, 2026 – The South New Jersey Libertarian Party urges the East Greenwich Township Planning & Zoning Board to reject American Tower Corporation’s (ATC) application for a massive 16,000 to 17,000 square foot, 4-megawatt industrial data center at 114 Mantua Road, a site squarely within an R-10 High Density Residential Zone.
ATC filed its application on March 20, 2026, under the title “Major Site Plan and Conditional Use Application.” However, East Greenwich’s zoning ordinance lists data centers as neither a permitted use nor a conditional use in residential districts. The R-10 zone protects families and homeowners from heavy industrial activity. Because the proposed use violates the zone, the Board must still grant a “D” use variance under New Jersey law before it can approve the project.
ATC proposes dozens of 24/7 cooling chillers and condensers just 50 feet from townhouse windows, five diesel backup generators, huge draws of municipal water for cooling, constant lighting, clearing of mature hardwood forest, and a nonstop 4 MW power demand that equals the electricity use of thousands of homes. This facility does not belong in a family-oriented neighborhood. Data centers belong in a properly zoned industrial park. Period.
Libertarians strongly support data centers and the technological growth they bring, built on private land with willing buyers and sellers in appropriately zoned industrial areas. That is the free market at work. What ATC is seeking here is the opposite: government approval to offload industrial noise, diesel fumes, water consumption, and 24/7 disruption onto homeowners who never consented and receive no compensation. That is cronyism, and we oppose it unconditionally. Residents in Oakridge and Weathervane Farms bought their homes expecting the quiet enjoyment of residential life that the zoning code promised them. Granting this approval would trample core property rights.
This isn’t even ATC’s first promise to these residents. When the company received a cell tower variance on this same parcel in 2008, the approval was conditioned on no noise, no water use, and no added burden on municipal services. The current proposal violates every one of those commitments. Closed-door meetings in 2025 and weak public notice make clear that government favoritism, not transparency, drove this process.
“The zoning ordinance isn’t a suggestion. It’s the legal line that stops one person’s profit from trampling another person’s property rights and their basic right to enjoy their home without industrial nuisance creeping in,” said Paul Baratelli, Chair of the South New Jersey Libertarian Party.
“Approving this application sends a clear message to every homeowner in South Jersey: your property rights are for sale to the corporation with the best lobbyists at Town Hall. We demand the Board uphold the zoning ordinance enacted by the residents of East Greenwich, deny the application, and let the free market build these facilities where they belong – in industrial zones.
In a truly free society, we cannot ignore the affected non-consenting citizens who never appear in corporate contracts. Their rights matter as much as, or more than, those doing business.”
The Township Committee heard strong community push back at the packed April 14, 2026, meeting and directed staff to draft a data center prohibition ordinance. While libertarians prefer fewer regulations, not more, we fully support enforcing the existing zoning protections that residents were already promised.
The rescheduled public hearing takes place on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. at Samuel Mickle School. We urge every resident, submit written comments to the Planning Board beforehand, and hold their elected officials to a simple standard: protect the people who live here, not the corporation with the best lobbyists.
Media Contact: Paul Baratelli, Chair South New Jersey Libertarian Party chair@njlp.org
About the South New Jersey Libertarian Party: The South New Jersey Libertarian Party advances individual liberty, free markets, property rights, and limited government throughout Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, and Salem counties. We believe voluntary cooperation, liberty, and the protection of personal and communal property rights, not political favoritism, create the foundation for a prosperous and free society.
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