Scarborough joins a growing list of communities considering data center moratoriums following Gov. Janet Mills’ veto of a temporary statewide ban in April. Westbrook, Sanford and Brunswick are among the cities and towns proposing local pauses on data center construction to give them time to consider local rules and regulations for such developments.

The Scarborough Town Council will vote on a proposed 180-day data center moratorium June 3. There will also be an opportunity for public comment at the meeting. The vote comes after a developer submitted a master plan for a data center on a 52-acre development on the west side of town on April 20.

Local officials rejected developer Daniel Dickinson’s proposal for the development — Scarborough Technology Park — as incomplete.

Dickinson said he purchased the property in 2022 and the town approved the site inventory in 2025. While the town knew about the development, Town Manager Tom Hall said, the specific proposal to build a data center came as a surprise.

If approved, the town’s moratorium would retroactively apply to any applications submitted on or after April 1, including the Scarborough Technology Park.

At the moratorium’s first reading on May 20, Dickinson said the retroactive application unfairly singles out his development. Hall said Dickinson’s application is not considered pending and the retroactivity clause doesn’t raise legal issues.

The data center proposal could be acceptable, Hall said. The moratorium will just give the town time to educate itself on the impacts of the construction and operation of data centers.

Councilor Cory Fellows previously told the Press Herald that the moratorium isn’t meant to target a specific project.

“The whole purpose of doing this as a moratorium is it gives the town a chance to catch up, research, do everything we need to make a more permanent decision one way or another,” Councilor Larry Cain said during the May 20 meeting.

Concerned about the impact of data centers on the environment — specifically the Scarborough marsh — multiple residents spoke in favor of the moratorium during the meeting. 

Maine State Representatives Ellie Sato (D-Gorham) and Sophie Warren (D-Scarborough) both supported the statewide temporary ban and encouraged municipalities to pass their own local moratoriums.

“I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to get that bill across the finish line,” Sato said. “What that means is that our communities and our municipalities are on the line now to get these ordinances passed as soon as possible.”