South Bristol Sets October 12 Hearing on Zoning Law That Would Ban Data Centers

The Town of South Bristol in Ontario County will hold a public hearing on Monday, October 12, 2026 on a proposed local law that would prohibit data centers and artificial intelligence computing facilities anywhere in the town. The hearing is set for 6:00 p.m. at South Bristol Town Hall, 6500 Gannett Hill Road West, according to the town's notice Town of South Bristol. No specific data center proposal prompted the measure, FingerLakes1.com reported.

South Bristol is a small Finger Lakes town on the west side of Canandaigua Lake, and it is not an obvious target for a hyperscale campus. That is what makes the draft notable. It is a preemptive, permanent zoning prohibition written before any application has been filed, and it reaches well beyond large facilities.

What Happened

The Town Board adopted Resolution 62-2026 on September 14, 2026, scheduling the hearing and directing that the proposed law be posted Town of South Bristol. The resolution lists board members Lisa Moore, Stephen Cowley, Meghan Fuller, Chris Abraham and Jamie Hall Town of South Bristol.

The draft would amend the town's zoning law to add definitions for "Data Center" and "Artificial Intelligence Computing Facility" and to add regulations that prohibit the use of land for those facilities Town of South Bristol. Town Supervisor Lisa Moore said the proposal is intended to protect South Bristol's natural resources and rural character, and the town has cited the energy and water demands of large data facilities and potential effects on the Canandaigua Lake watershed, according to FingerLakes1.com.

What the Draft Law Says

The draft amends two parts of Chapter 170 of the town code: the definitions in Section 170-9 and the list of prohibited uses in Section 170-70 Town of South Bristol.

An artificial intelligence computing facility is defined as a facility designed or used primarily for high-performance computing, machine learning, AI training, AI inference or similar activities that require substantial computing infrastructure Town of South Bristol. A data center is defined as a facility whose primary services are the storage, management and processing of digital data, housing servers, network equipment, telecommunications and data storage systems Town of South Bristol.

The draft then sorts data centers into five types by peak power demand Town of South Bristol:

• Enterprise: serving a single organization, up to 100 megawatts.
• Colocation: serving multiple organizations, up to 100 megawatts.
• Hyperscale: more than 100 megawatts.
• Edge: localized service, up to 25 megawatts.
• Residence-based: AI inference equipment in homes, up to 5 megawatts.

The prohibition applies to all of them. The operative sentence reads: "No land in the Town shall be used for a data center and/or an artificial intelligence computing facility" Town of South Bristol.

A second paragraph bars the supporting infrastructure as well. It names server buildings, computing facilities, battery energy storage systems serving those facilities, cooling systems and electrical substations Town of South Bristol. FingerLakes1.com also lists water-supply systems and backup power equipment among the covered items.

There is one carve-out. Health care facilities and providers that operate a data center for their own internal use are excluded, unless they operate commercially for unaffiliated entities Town of South Bristol.

If adopted, the law would take effect immediately upon filing with the New York Secretary of State, and it includes a standard severability clause Town of South Bristol.

Where Things Stand

Nothing has been adopted. The October 12 hearing is the public comment step, and the board would need to vote after it closes. The town has posted the draft law with the hearing notice and is offering remote access to the meeting Town of South Bristol.

The proposal lands in a state where local governments are increasingly using land-use powers on this issue. We reported on October 4 that Buffalo is moving toward a two-year data center moratorium, and earlier this year on the spread of local moratoriums nationally. South Bristol's draft differs from those in one important way: it is written as a permanent prohibition in the zoning code, not a temporary pause Town of South Bristol.

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

Data center developers and site selectors should treat the map of Upstate as changing town by town. A prohibition adopted before any application exists removes a jurisdiction from consideration entirely, and it does so without the negotiation over setbacks, noise or water that a site plan review would allow.

Owners of other building types should read the definitions closely. The draft reaches down to 5-megawatt residence-based systems and 25-megawatt edge facilities, and it separately prohibits battery storage, cooling systems and substations that serve the banned uses Town of South Bristol. An industrial or institutional owner with a large on-site computing room would want clarity on whether its facility's primary services fall inside the definition. The only stated exemption is for internal health care use Town of South Bristol.

Electrical, mechanical and site contractors who have been counting on data center work to offset softness elsewhere should factor local prohibitions into their pipeline assumptions. Each one narrows where the work can go, and concentrates it in the towns and industrial parks that remain open.

Other municipalities now have a template. The five-tier classification by megawatts and the list of associated infrastructure give neighboring towns ready-made language, whether they want to prohibit these uses or regulate them by size Town of South Bristol.

What to Watch

• Public comment at the October 12 hearing and whether the board revises the draft afterward Town of South Bristol.
• Whether the board votes the same night or at a later meeting.
• Whether the internal-use exemption is widened beyond health care Town of South Bristol.
• Whether other Ontario County and Finger Lakes towns introduce similar language.

Bottom Line

South Bristol is proposing to close its borders to data centers and AI computing facilities of every size, along with the substations, cooling and battery systems that serve them Town of South Bristol. No project triggered it FingerLakes1.com. The hearing is October 12 at 6:00 p.m. Town of South Bristol, and the outcome will be watched by towns across the region that are deciding whether to regulate these facilities or rule them out.

Image credit: FingerLakes1.com. Image from the source article.

Sources

• FingerLakes1.com, South Bristol to hear public comment on proposed data center ban: https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2026/10/06/south-bristol-to-hear-public-comment-on-proposed-data-center-ban/
• Town of South Bristol, Public Hearing: South Bristol Town Board (notice of hearing): https://southbristolny.gov/event/public-hearing-south-bristol-town-board-2/
• Town of South Bristol, Local Law Amending Zoning Re Data Centers (draft): https://southbristolny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Local-Law-Amending-Zoning-Re-Data-Centers.pdf
• Town of South Bristol, Resolution 62-2026, Scheduling Public Hearing: https://southbristolny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Ag-Resolution-62_2026_Scheduling-Public-Hearing-Banning-Data-Centers.pdf