Andover Township, New Jersey is not an accident. People chose Sussex County deliberately — for the Kittatinny Mountains, the lakes, the forests, the pace of life that's impossible to find closer to the city. This is a community that values what it has.
That's exactly why it needs to be protected.
The data center industry is moving through New Jersey with speed and money, and rural communities with available land, access to water, and proximity to major fiber routes are exactly what it's hunting for. Sussex County checks those boxes. Andover Township is in the crosshairs.
What Makes Andover Township a Target
Data center operators need land — lots of it, cheap. They need water for cooling. They need power infrastructure. And they need state governments willing to hand out tax incentives.
Rural Sussex County has all of it. The Paulins Kill, the Pequest River watershed, the open land along Route 206 — these are assets that look very different to a data center developer than they do to the people who live here.
New Jersey's aggressive data center tax incentive program means deals can be structured at the state level before local communities even know a project is being considered. By the time Andover Township residents hear about it, the permits may already be in motion.
What a Data Center Would Mean for Andover Township and Sussex County
- Water drawn from the Paulins Kill and local aquifers. Sussex County's water systems support agriculture, recreation, wildlife, and the communities that depend on clean, reliable groundwater. A single large data center can consume millions of gallons per day. In a rural watershed like this one, that impact is not recoverable.
- The end of rural character. Andover Township's identity is its landscape. A data center campus — massive, windowless, floodlit, humming 24 hours a day — is incompatible with that identity. Once built, it defines the surrounding area for decades.
- Power grid strain in a rural county. JCP&L's infrastructure serving Sussex County was not designed for industrial computing loads. Reliability issues and rate increases for residents, farms, and small businesses follow data center expansion consistently.
- Minimal permanent employment. A data center the size of several football fields may employ 30–50 permanent workers, most of them specialized technicians recruited from outside the region. For Andover Township and Sussex County, that's not economic development.
- Tax abatements that hurt Sussex County schools. New Jersey's data center incentives can eliminate local property tax obligations for years. In a rural county where school budgets are already stretched, that revenue loss falls directly on classrooms and municipal services in Newton, Sparta, and beyond.
Sussex County's Wild Places Are Not a Corporate Resource
The Kittatinny Ridge, Swartswood State Park, Paulinskill Valley Trail, High Point State Park, and the lakes and forests of Sussex County exist because generations of New Jerseyans decided they were worth protecting. Lake Hopatcong, Culvers Lake, Swartswood Lake — these are not amenities. They are the reason people live here.
A data center is the wrong kind of development for Andover Township. Full stop.
What You Can Do
- Contact Andover Township Committee and Sussex County Board of County Commissioners. Ask them directly: have any data center operators approached the township or county about land, permits, or tax incentives?
- Contact your state legislators in Trenton. Ask them to require full public disclosure of data center water use, oppose tax abatements without binding community benefit agreements, and mandate local environmental impact reviews before any permits are issued.
- Connect with local advocacy groups. New Jersey Highlands Coalition, Sussex County Land Trust, and New Jersey Conservation Foundation are active on land and water protection in this region.
- Talk to your neighbors in Andover Township, Andover Borough, Newton, Sparta, Hopatcong, Byram, Stanhope, Netcong, Lafayette, Frankford, Hardyston, Vernon, and Wantage. Sussex County's rural communities are stronger together.
- Wear the movement. Our Stop Data Centers tees, stickers, and drinkware start conversations — at the lake, on the Paulinskill Valley Trail, at the Newton farmers market, at the Sparta diner. Show Sussex County where you stand and shop the movement at stopdatacenters.myshopify.com.
Sussex County's quiet was earned. It won't be given away without a fight.
Andover Township stands. Sussex County stands. New Jersey stands.