Overview
- This week The Kraft Group and Unified Global Packaging disclosed a tentative plan for a 10‑building, $16 billion data‑center campus in Sutton that would need as much as 900 megawatts of power.
- Sutton posted an unsigned statement saying officials are evaluating the proposal, have launched due diligence and a public information page, and stress that considering the idea is not the same as supporting it.
- Local meetings this week drew hundreds of residents and a packed Select Board session where speakers uniformly opposed the plan and raised worries about electricity and water demand, noise, traffic, public services, property values, and health impacts.
- The developers pitched major fiscal gains—one estimate projects roughly $27.8 million in property taxes by 2035—and said the project would move forward only with community support.
- State policy and recent voter actions that restrict large data centers increase the political and regulatory hurdles for Sutton because Massachusetts requires community approval for projects over 25 megawatts and other towns have recently blocked similar builds.