CogNovum Data Center (80 Merritt Boulevard)

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. CogNovum Data Center (80 Merritt Boulevard) in Trumbull, Connecticut is contested. Hearings, public comment, petitions, or organized opposition are on record, and no lawsuit has been filed so far. A resident petition passed 1,200 signatures by July and 1,445 by 2026-08-12, asking for a moratorium and a joint public meeting.

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: contested means active public debate is on record, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition, without litigation.

A resident petition passed 1,200 signatures by July and 1,445 by 2026-08-12, asking for a moratorium and a joint public meeting. The Town Council passed a two-year moratorium on new data centers on 2026-09-11 that explicitly excludes the 80 Merritt Blvd modernization, which residents objected to.

Source: Westfair Communications

Power and water

The owner committed to no additional electrical draw beyond the site's existing capacity; the operator lists 6.75 MW of UPS capacity

The owner committed to no increase in water consumption and is converting the site to a closed-loop cooling system as part of the modernization (Westfair, 2026-08-12); the current heat-rejection method is not stated

Public money on the record

Notes on the record

Existing 228,000 sq ft building at 80 Merritt Blvd, Trumbull, CT, built in 1960 (originally for Nasdaq per the operator's account); currently operated by CogNovum. Aphorio Carter acquired the property in 2024. On 2026-05-06, 365 Data Centers and Aphorio Carter announced a ~200MW AI-ready data-center pipeline across six US markets; Trumbull is named as a site 'under evaluation' for AI-focused upgrades to this existing building, with letters of intent not yet signed for it (only Aurora, CO and Simpsonville, KY had signed LOIs as of the release). The operator's CEO described the plan as upgrading an existing facility on existing power infrastructure, not new construction: "We are simply updating an existing, historic facility to ensure we can continue serving our customers effectively, while supporting the town with local jobs and substantial tax revenue." No MW, investment, or job-count figures were published for the current facility. Coordinates cross-checked: US Census geocoder (41.240871, -73.146313) and the OSM building footprint (41.2407281, -73.1474121) agree within ~100m; the OSM point is used per the mapped-building preference. Flagging for awareness, not asserted as fact: OSM's building tag for this address (as retrieved 2026-09-12) reads "Digital Realty New York HVN10," which is not corroborated by any 2026 source found in this search and may reflect a prior/stale ownership label rather than current fact.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

• Beacon Falls Data Center Campus (1 Lopus Road) · Beacon Falls · O&G Industries15 mi · Proposed · 100 MW · Contested
• CyrusOne NYM5 (Norwalk) · Norwalk · CyrusOne15 mi · Operating · 4 MW
• Omega Systems Stamford Data Center (26 Fahey Street, formerly Amnet/Cloudpath CT1) · Stamford · Omega Systems22 mi · Operating
• TierPoint Waterbury · Waterbury · TierPoint22 mi · Operating
• Brookhaven National Laboratory Scientific Data and Computing Center (Building 725) · Upton · Brookhaven National Laboratory (U.S. Department of Energy)29 mi · Operating · 9.6 MW
• 365 Data Centers Long Island (Commack) · Commack · 365 Data Centers30 mi · Operating · 6 MW

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