Lopatcong planning board finds council’s data‑center ban inconsistent with master plan, authorizes reexamination

The Lopatcong Township Planning Board on June 24 voted that Ordinance 2606, a council‑introduced measure that would prohibit data centers as permitted uses in the ROM (research‑office‑manufacturing) zone, is inconsistent with the township’s 2012 master plan.

Planning counsel and staff told the board that the 2012 master plan explicitly recommended data centers in certain zone districts and that the board’s legal charge under the Municipal Land Use Law is to determine consistency with the master plan, not to evaluate whether the ordinance is a good or bad policy. Counsel said a finding of inconsistency would allow the governing body to adopt the ordinance only by supermajority and with a separate resolution explaining the departure from the master plan.

“I think that the board would need to make a finding that this ordinance to prohibit them is not consistent with the master plan,” a planner advised the board, noting the master plan language carried the recommendation forward into zoning. After discussion the board member who moved to find the ordinance inconsistent received a second; the board recorded affirmative votes and the motion carried.

The board also voted to accept Resolution 26‑96 directing the Planning Board to undertake a periodic master‑plan reexamination under NJSA 40:55D‑89 and to authorize the planner and municipal counsel to proceed with that work. The planner said the reexamination can address whether the master plan should be updated to reflect current council policy and that the planning board will produce a report subject to public hearing and the board’s input.

Board members emphasized that the planning board’s consistency finding is procedural under land‑use law and does not itself enact or block the ordinance; the council retains the authority to adopt the ordinance if it follows the statutory process (including the supermajority and a statement of reasons to deviate from the master plan).

The board said a written resolution reflecting its finding will be issued at the next meeting and that the council appears likely to await that resolution before taking further action.