The Gorham Town Council on Tuesday approved a moratorium that will prevent data center proposals from being developed for 180 days. The ordinance will give the council time to research potential regulations to govern large-scale artificial intelligence facilities, which opponents say deplete local natural resources and disrupt infrastructure.

The council unanimously passed the moratorium, 7-0. Town Councilor Seven Siegel said it could be extended another 180 days if the town deems it necessary.

“There are no plans for any data centers right now. There are other nearby towns that have stuff going on, but we do not,” Siegel said.

Three Gorham residents spoke in favor of the moratorium, mentioning the harmful effects of data centers on drinking water, electricity usage and noise emissions.

“In communities where data centers have been erected, they have experienced very significant deficits in their drinkable, potable water already,” said Katherine Atwood, a board member of the Friends of the Presumpscot River.

“There are horrific amounts of pollution that these things give off because America doesn’t have the infrastructure to output the amount of electricity that these huge AI data centers actually need, especially in the state of Maine,” Drew Tardiff said.

Several towns across Maine, including Westbrook and Scarborough, have approved or proposed similar moratoriums since Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill in April that would have temporarily restricted such developments statewide.

Before the public hearing for the moratorium itself, some residents spoke against the Amazon warehouse distribution center project proposed for Gorham, arguing that the reasons to be wary of data centers also apply to Amazon’s project. The speakers urged the council to consider a moratorium preventing all large-scale industrial development in town.

“We need a moratorium in order to stop and really examine the impacts to Gorham, and whether the town has the regulations in place that can be actively enforced and will be enforced to handle a business of this size and continuous operation,” Anne Bilodeau said. “This facility will have a very big impact on traffic, pedestrian and bike safety, air pollution, light pollution and noise pollution.”

The Gorham Planning Board is waiting on Amazon to submit revised site plans and documents for continued review and a vote.