Ithaca · Local digest

The City of Ithaca Common Council approved the acquisition of the former Army Reserve Center at 101 Sunrise Road for $1.7 million on July 8. The more than five-acre property, already connected to utilities and infrastructure, is being positioned as a strategic long-term housing opportunity. City officials plan to evaluate interim municipal uses while determining future development needs and incorporating the property into capital planning and real estate strategies. Acting City Manager Dominick Recckio described it as a "rare opportunity" and "once-in-a-generation" chance to develop land within city limits.

Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statewide moratorium on data center permitting through an executive order, halting state permits for data center construction or expansion while the New York State Department of Public Service conducts an environmental review. The moratorium puts Lansing's controversial TeraWulf data center project into question, though the executive order exempts local permitting processes, meaning the project's local planning could continue. The order also directs state agencies to establish frameworks for municipalities to negotiate community benefits from data center development and considers creating a fund to protect consumers from grid modernization costs. Local opposition groups like No Data Centers FLX welcome the sales tax exemption repeal but note concerns that the moratorium's 50-megawatt threshold is higher than the pending Responsible Data Center Development Act's proposal and question whether the one-year timeline will be sufficient to prevent data center development from resuming.