SMITHFIELD – An Oct. 7 hearing on an appeal from Hanton City Investments has been postponed to sometime in January.

According to town officials, the hearing before the Smithfield Zoning Board of Appeals will now happen at a date to be announced in January, with additional notices to be sent.

The continuance is due to a Superior Court lawsuit filed against the town in the matter.

Original story:

Smithfield Corporate Complex, with data center, up for appeal Oct. 7

SMITHFIELD – The town’s effort to ban data centers will be put to the test when a company looking to build the new Smithfield Corporate Complex at 364 George Washington Highway goes before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Oct. 7.

Hanton City Investments LLC and ROK LLC, as applicants and owners of the property, seek to appeal the town administrative officer’s second certificate of incompleteness on the project, issued June 11.

The matter was set to be heard on Sept. 2, but was moved to Oct. 7 at 6 p.m.

Members explained at the time that it didn’t make sense to consider the appeal just yet, as there were legal issues to be resolved that they believed might be part of a Superior Court action on the matter.

Data centers were never contemplated by the town’s zoning ordinance, and are a relatively new use.

Back in May, supporting the overwhelming majority of residents, the Town Council voted to ban data centers except by special use permit, which Council President John Tassoni said at the time would represent an uphill climb.

Developers behind the Smithfield Corporate Complex, which officials have indicated would likely include a data center, submitted an application to the Planning Department a day before the public hearing where the council voted to adopt a zoning ordinance with data centers as a non-permitted use.

Planners later certified the developer’s application incomplete, meaning requested information hadn’t been submitted. Hanton City Investments is appealing that decision, and if it’s successful, the application would be considered valid prior to when the ban went into effect.

At the Oct. 7 meeting, the public will have a chance to be heard on the matter, but only as it relates to the certification of incompleteness.

If the Zoning Board of Appeals agrees with the developer, the application will proceed to the Planning Board for consideration, where as Councilor Rachel Toppi noted, the public will have the chance to speak on the application and merits of the project on seven lots (merged from nine) within the Airport Hazard Overlay District. If it is denied, it would not go to the Planning Board, but the applicant could take the matter to Superior Court.

Officials in nearby Lincoln and Cumberland have recently moved to ban data centers in their communities.

Ethan Shorey

Ethan Shorey is the founder and editor of The Local Insider News, a digital media news source centered on the northern Rhode Island area. The president of the Rhode Island Press Association, he has two decades of experience covering stories that matter to people where they live. He and his wife live with their three children in Cumberland. Email news tips to .