National Land Developers Sues Andover Township, NJ Over Data-Center Ban Adopted Five Days After a Standards Ordinance

National Land Developers LLC filed suit against Andover Township in Superior Court, Sussex County, on July 10, 2026, challenging Ordinance 2026-13, which classifies data centers as a prohibited use throughout the township and repeals two earlier ordinances that had permitted and regulated them. The developer holds an interest in roughly 97 acres at 248 Stickles Pond Road (Block 151, Lot 21) — the former Newton Airport site, in the township’s Route 206 Economic Development Zone, vacant for over a decade.

The pleaded sequence is the same reversal pattern that anchors the Monroe litigation, compressed into five days. Andover had amended its zoning in 2025 specifically to allow data centers on the site. In May 2026 the Township Committee voted 4-1 to introduce an ordinance adding operating standards for data centers rather than banning them. Five days later, following a township meeting that turned disorderly and circulated on social media — a resident was removed by police after cursing at the mayor and committee — the committee convened a special meeting and unanimously introduced a township-wide prohibition instead, repealing the ordinances that had allowed the use. The complaint’s central allegation is that the committee gave no explanation for the reversal.

The counts are conventional New Jersey land-use claims, not constitutional ones: unlawful adoption of Ordinance 2026-13, absence of a valid land-use purpose, failure to constitute sound planning, non-compliance with the Municipal Land Use Law, failure to give required notice, arbitrary and capricious Land Use Board review, and failure to prepare and transmit a required report. The relief sought is declaratory and injunctive — a declaration that the ordinance is “invalid and unenforceable,” an order barring enforcement, plus attorney’s fees and costs. No dollar damages figure is claimed. That distinguishes Andover from the two $300 million suits and is a correction worth carrying: New Jersey’s three developer suits are not three damages actions. Two seek nine-figure damages; this one seeks only to void the ordinance.

Andover is also the one of the three that stays in state court. Because the complaint pleads no federal claim, there is no removal hook, and the case is not searchable on CourtListener — New Jersey Superior Court is outside that corpus, so the absence of a federal docket here is a jurisdictional fact rather than a research gap.

The township has said it will not settle. In a statement, the mayor and Township Committee acknowledged the suit and said they “intend to vigorously defend the allegations and ha[ve] no interest in settling.” No ruling has issued. See research-new-jersey-datacenter-ban-wave-cran-and-developer-litigation-2026-08 for the state pattern, and 2026-06-05–hexa-builders-sues-monroe-nj-data-center-ban-first-amendment-medium-of-expression for the parallel Gloucester County case.