New Bedford, MA Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

New Bedford's Table of Principal Use Regulations (Table 2230) lists "Data Center," defined at Section 3301 as uses providing information storage and processing services through a collection of computer servers and related IT infrastructure, as a permitted use marked "Y" in the Mixed Use Business (MUB), Industrial A (IA), Industrial B (IB), Industrial C (IC) and Waterfront Industrial (WI) districts. The table marks data centers "N" in every residential district (RA, RAA, RB, RC) and in the Kempton-Hillman and Central City transit-oriented overlay districts, meaning a data center cannot locate there under any circumstance without a zoning map change.

Beyond the use-table entry, Section 2843 imposes a design condition specific to data centers when the City reviews their site plan: the applicant must provide mitigation of any negative aesthetic impacts that might result from required security measures, and must restrict visibility into the building's interior at ground level. This sits within Section 2840's broader framework for site plan review of general commercial uses, meaning a data center proposal in an eligible district still goes through the City's Site Plan Review Authority, which can weigh the security-fencing and screening mitigation alongside general performance criteria such as buffering and traffic impact that apply to commercial uses generally under Section 2800.

Because the use is by-right ("Y") rather than requiring a special permit in the eligible industrial and mixed-use districts, a data center project's main local hurdle is site plan approval rather than a discretionary special permit, provided the aesthetic mitigation and interior-screening conditions of Section 2843 are addressed in the submitted plans.