Two local environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging a Town of Lansing zoning decision that cleared the way for a large-scale data center along the shores of Cayuga Lake.
FLX Strong and Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) filed an Article 78 petition in New York State Supreme Court seeking to overturn a December decision by the Town of Lansing Zoning Board of Appeals that classified a proposed TeraWulf data center as a permitted “general processing” use .
The zoning board’s 3-2 ruling allowed the project to bypass a use-variance process and proceed to site plan review as a permitted use in the town’s Industrial/Research district.
In court filings, the petitioners argue the board made fundamental errors of law and violated lawful procedure by stretching the definition of “general processing” to include modern data centers. They contend the term historically applies to light manufacturing or physical processing, not digital or computational activity.
The lawsuit also alleges procedural problems in how the zoning board handled the appeal, including an expedited review process, limited time for deliberation, and bias by the zoning board chair, who cast the deciding vote.
According to the petition, the chair had previously expressed support for the data center in private emails and public comments, which the groups argue compromised the board’s impartiality.
The proposed data center would be built at the former Milliken Station power plant site on Cayuga Drive, adjacent to Cayuga Lake and the state-protected Cayuga Shores Wildlife Management Area. Court documents state the project could eventually scale to 400 megawatts of power demand, comparable to that of a small city.
FLX Strong and CLEAN argue the project poses risks including increased noise and light pollution, impacts to wildlife and recreation, strain on the electric grid, and potential declines in property values.
In a joint statement, the groups said the zoning board’s decision effectively rewrote the town’s zoning code without legislative approval and set a precedent that could allow nearly any business to qualify as “general processing” .
The lawsuit asks the court to annul the zoning board’s decision and send the matter back for reconsideration by an impartial panel.
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