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Planning, Licenses, and Development Committee Minutes for September 9, 2026

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City of Keene 
New Hampshire 
 
 
PLANNING, LICENSES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE 
MEETING MINUTES 
 
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 
6:00 PM 
Council Chambers, 
City Hall 
Members Present: 
Randy L. Filiault, Chair 
Philip M. Jones, Vice Chair 
Robert C. Williams 
Edward J. Haas 
Laura E. Ruttle-Miller 
 
Jay V. Kahn, Mayor 
 
Members Not Present: 
All Present  
Staff Present: 
Elizabeth A. Ferland, City Manager 
Amanda Palmeira, City Attorney 
Brandon Latham, Deputy City Attorney 
Paul Andrus, Community Development 
Director 
Ryan Lawliss, Compliance Inspector 
Rick Wood, Fire Marshal 
 
 
 
Chair Filiault called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. 
 
1. Councilor Williams – Request to Consider Restricting the Sale of 7-
Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and Concentrated Kratom Products  
 
Chair Filiault requested opening comments from the petitioner, Councilor Bobby Williams. 
Councilor Williams noted this was about a letter he wrote to the Council in July 2026, 
specifically concerned about a product called 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and a number of 
related products that are quite similar, such as a Kratom product that he knew the Committee 
would hear a presentation about this evening. Councilor Williams said this is a very similar 
product to an opioid, and it is being sold over the counter in gas stations and convenience stores 
all over the City, which has not changed since the July meeting. He knew there had been some 
developments at the federal level since July but said that effort seemed to be moving a little 
slower than he thought it might.  
 
Chair Filiault noted that he had spoken with the City Attorney about this because it would 
involve legalities, so he asked the City Attorney to address what could be done about this at the 
City Council level, so they would not find themselves in a legal quagmire. City Attorney 
Amanda Palmeira spoke about the concept of preemption. As Councilor Williams mentioned, 
there is federal regulation in the works at this time. The most recent update from Deputy City 
Attorney Brandon Latham was that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the week 
before this meeting, added three 7-OH products to the Schedule I Federal Controlled Substances. 
So, three products are already federally prohibited. City Attorney Palmeira said there would 
always be some weird ambiguity between what is preempted federally under the Controlled 

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Substances Act and what the City can regulate: marijuana is a good example of how states have 
handled that differently. She said that for the City to determine exactly what the federal 
government has regulated and where there are gaps that we could regulate, it takes a lot of 
research. She noted that other towns in New Hampshire had started regulating this product and as 
far as she knew, there had not been any activity by the federal or state governments to invalidate 
those. She said it is one of those situations that does appear as though the City could give it a 
good shot. It is not something she would always say: “It looks like it is preempted, go for it.” 
Yet, given that other towns were doing it and the feds were moving on it very slowly in small 
portions, she said there would probably be some room to more broadly address it locally. So, 
Chair Filiault said the City would not be creating precedents; this has already been tried in other 
areas and upheld to this point. City Attorney Palmeira said she did not know that they had 
necessarily been challenged yet, so those in other areas were still on the books. 
 
Councilor Haas asked the City Attorney if she had information on how enforcement was going in 
other New Hampshire towns: were they enforcing it or just considering it a guideline? The City 
Attorney did not have information on that. She also did not know given the DEA was adding the 
three 7-OH substances to Schedule I to be federally prohibited throughout the country. 
 
City Manager Elizabeth Ferland recalled when the City of Franklin put a similar ordinance in 
place for “Spice.” They ultimately had to change that ordinance several times as the formula for 
that drug changed. Their prevention coalition worked with all the local stores. Once the 
ordinance was adopted, the organization provided preventative information to the stores, letting 
them know it is no longer something they can sell. She thought it was pretty effective once those 
ordinances were adopted and most places complied. 
 
Chair Filiault recognized Dr. John Curtis, who indicated he is an Emergency Room Doctor with 
a background in emergency medicine and medical toxicology. Dr. Curtis noted that he knew a 
little bit about this topic, but it had not been a great focus of his own work.  
 
Dr. Curtis explained Kratom. Mitragyna speciosa is a Southeast Asian tree, which can get to be 
about 70 to 80 feet tall at full maturity. It has been used for several centuries. The raw leaf or tea 
products are often chewed to give energy and relieve pain for workers. It is also used 
recreationally. “Kratom” refers to the tree or any products derived from the leaves of that tree. 
 
Dr. Curtis talked about Kratom pharmacology. The active components are chemicals called 
alkaloids. The most studied and prominent one in the leaf is “Mitragynine.” 7-OH Mitragynine is 
naturally occurring. It is probably well under 2% of the naturally occurring alkaloids in the leaf, 
although that changes during the life cycle. The more mature the plant is, the more 7-OH there is 
in it, but it is still generally a small percentage of the naturally occurring alkaloids in the leaf. 7-
OH is also produced in the body as a metabolite of the primary alkaloid, which is the 
Mitragynine. 7-OH is an agonist at the opioid receptors. It is probably more of a partial agonist 
similar to buprenorphine or Suboxone. So, it does activate those receptors and produces opioid-
like effects. However, it is not the only active compound in the naturally occurring leaf. 
 
Next, Dr. Curtis described Kratom effects. There are multiple neurologic systems that seem to be 
affected by this mixture of alkaloids. It works on serotonin syndrome, similar to LSD and 

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antidepressants. It is active in noradrenergic receptors; that is the kind of thing responsible for 
your fight or flight response and that is also responsible for the mild stimulant effects that this 
can have, as well as the opioid effects. Dr. Curtis stated conventional wisdom is that low doses 
are more apt to produce mild stimulant effects and energy concentration, allowing one to maybe 
work longer or harder, or focus a little bit more. Whereas the higher doses tend to be the ones 
that cause relaxation, sedation, promote sleep, and offer some pain relief. He said it is seen used 
sometimes for pain relief and sometimes for its psychoactive effects. There is also a population 
that tends to use it to ease opioid withdrawal effects because of the at least partial activation of 
opioid receptors. He stated that a lot of the early interest in this substance in this country was 
with people trying to wean themselves off opioids and ease those withdrawal effects. 
 
Dr. Curtis explained that Kratom is available in a variety of formulations. You can eat the raw 
plant matter by chewing the leaves; they are often dried and powdered, and in some cases 
fermented and placed in capsules. It is available as a ground leaf to make tea and a ground leaf in 
capsules to ingest without having to taste it, since most of these alkaloids are somewhat bitter. It 
is offered in a powder that is designed to be mixed into food or beverages. There are also extracts 
either in alcohol as a solvent that are sometimes used to absorb from the mucosal tissues in the 
mouth and placed under the tongue for rapid effects.  
 
Dr. Curtis also discussed concentrates and synthetics: There are also synthetic forms of this 
chemically produced 7-OH. There are a variety of these on the market and that is what has 
caused most of the controversy. Whereas the natural leaf will contain a small amount of this 
substance and the body will change some of the alkaloids into 7-OH, that is a fairly slow process, 
so it is hard to get a lot of opioid stimulation at once and the effects typically last five to eight 
hours after ingestion. He said the 7-OH opioid agonist is very gradually produced, so you do not 
really see with natural products a lot of the consequences that are sometimes seen with opioids in 
terms of respiratory suppression. Although in a lab setting, 7-OH has produced respiratory 
depression that can be reversed by opioid antagonists like Narcan. 
 
Dr. Curtis talked about the legalities of Kratom. He reiterated news about rescheduling some of 
these substances the week prior. He said in general, until very recently, there was no federal 
regulation on this. Various states have different regulations, some of which involve just 
concentrates and 7-OH products, some of which involve everything, and some of which are just 
age restrictions. He showed a map of the United States as of July 2026, which showed where 7-
OH products were banned, illegal but leaf products are legal, and the Kratom Consumer 
Protection Act legal area. There are various regulations that vary state to state and even within 
states. When talking about local ordinances that change what can be sold, he said this is not 
common, but it is not rare either. A national survey in 2021 for teens and adults showed less than 
1% or 1.5 million or more people who reported using kratom in the last year. He called that a fair 
number of people and was sure those numbers had only increased in the past five years. 
 
Dr. Curtis discussed the potential harm of 7-OH/Kratom. Like for many herbal products, 
regulation and testing is not mandatory, although good producers will often have third party labs 
certified. However, there have been cases of heavy metal contamination that is often reported by 
suppliers. There has been bacterial contamination of products, so that is a common concern with 
many supplements and herbal products. But in terms of the Kratom itself, he cited nausea and GI 

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side effects as the most common and noted that both diarrhea and constipation have been 
reported. Dizziness or drowsiness occur, particularly at high doses. Occasionally also, again with 
high doses, more serious things such as seizures have been reported, as well as confusion, high 
blood pressure, and low heart rate. There have been liver problems reported with Kratom use; it 
is not clear exactly who develops that but it is generally associated with high dose, long term use; 
it is not a universal effect, so it probably has something to do with the person taking it as well. 
He talked about lifestyle factors, noting that co-ingestance effects in pregnancy have not been 
studied and are not well known. In some cases, neonatal abstinence syndrome, similar to babies 
born to mothers who are opioid addicted, have been reported, but that has been rare, probably 
because it is both less common than opioid use and under recognized. Kratom is not detected on 
routine drug screens. It would be possible, but it is not something that is routinely screened for. 
So, Dr. Curtis said that if someone does not tell you, there is not much way that you would 
know, even though mothers are routinely drug tested for the safety of the children. 
 
Dr. Curtis stated that Kratom is a lot less dangerous than a lot of other things that are on our 
streets. One report from about seven years ago said that over a period of about six years, 11 
deaths were associated with it, but almost all of them were mixed exposures where it was used 
with other things. According to this article, it said two deaths were associated with Kratom 
exposure alone, although the underlying medical conditions of the user were not entirely clear. 
So, Dr. Curtis said that death from Kratom, while possible, seems to be extraordinarily rare. 
 
Chair Filiault said this was actually brought to his attention about one year prior and he 
commended Councilor Williams for bringing this forward. Chair Filiault said it was a Police 
Officer who kind of raised his alarm on this because he had been to a couple of calls on Kratom 
and said it created a violent atmosphere with people they encountered. He asked whether Dr. 
Curtis had seen that in the ER or if it is more prominent on the streets. Dr. Curtis said he had 
surprisingly not seen a lot of it compared to when K2 and Spice were common. He had not seen 
a lot of Kratom in the ER; he had seen people who say they use it, but no actual medical 
encounters driven by that use. He noted there is some sort of degree of Kratom users because 
there are three widely available types called white, green, and red; referring to the little veins in 
the stems on the leaves. On very immature plants, the 7-OH in those veins and the leaves are 
white and they tend to have more stimulant effects and seem to be more dose-dependent. 
Whereas green is kind of a mixture. The mature leaves have these red veins in them, and they 
have the highest concentration of 7-OH; they are generally thought to be more relaxing, sedating. 
He reiterated that the white Kratom, which also varies depending on region of origin and 
methods of processing, tends to cause more powerful stimulant effects that might be more prone 
to being associated with agitation or violence. Dr. Curtis’ understanding is that the red vein 
substances are most used by those trying to get opioid-like sedative effects, but he said it was not 
something he had commonly encountered in his emergency department. 
 
Councilor Ruttle-Miller said she understood there is a difference between medical literature 
versus general news reporting and that those things can sound incredibly different. However, she 
said there seemed to be a big polarity between what Dr. Curtis was presenting as far as a concern 
and danger versus what you see when you look this up. She said it does seem like there has been 
a dramatic increase in the number of deaths or very dangerous situations. Specifically, an article 
in the NIH around poison control reports. She asked Dr. Curtis if there was more recent data or 

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anything specific to New Hampshire in general that he could share. Dr. Curtis said no, he did not 
have anything specific to New Hampshire and the survey he looked at was about six years old. 
He said there had probably been much more usage recently. He thought the problems probably 
come from either the synthetic or concentrated 7-OH products, particularly if mixed with other 
sedatives such as alcohol or other opioids: that is also where we see more reports of addiction 
and withdrawal. He provided an analogy to demonstrate that taking active compounds and 
concentrating them will cause more dramatic psychoactive and health effects. 
 
Vice Chair Jones said he is a little naive about this but knew these products were readily 
available in convenience stores. Dr. Curtis said it is not hard to come by, showing a picture from 
a store in Keene the other day. It is like getting a pack of cigarettes or beer; you would probably 
have to prove your age. Vice Chair Jones said the packaging and labeling is called Kratom or 7-
OH, or is it just branding? Dr. Curtis said most 7-OH is sold as 7-OH or Hydroxy, but it will 
usually specify Kratom on it depending on the producer. You can also order and have Kratom 
shipped to you but some of the more reputable producers will have analysis of the alkaloids, 
results of heavy metal testing, and results of bacterial testing. He said most of it is labeled 
Kratom because that is how people who are looking for it know to buy it. 
 
Councilor Haas asked Dr. Curtis to speak about the addictive properties of Kratom and compare 
it to other opioids. Dr. Curtis again said it was not something he had seen clinically, but from 
reviewing internet reports and overall kind of experience with it, even the leaf product can cause 
some physical dependence with long enough use. The 7-OH products being more powerful at 
opioid receptors and getting that effect do have very similar withdrawal; some people have stated 
that withdrawal can last for weeks to months and can be difficult to wean off. He said it may be a 
lot harder to distance yourself from a product that might be at the gas station where you are 
getting your coffee as opposed to having to go seek it out from a dealer. So, Dr. Curtis stated that 
it does have potential to cause addiction, even though it is often used to ease withdrawal 
symptoms when someone no longer has access to opioids.  
 
Councilor Williams first wanted to speak to those three substances that were added to Schedule I. 
It was his understanding that those were not 7-OH, but chemicals closely related to 7-OH and 
perhaps not in wide circulation. He thought the 7-OH question was still out there. City Attorney 
Palmeira believed that was right. She noted that it was a struggle not only to read and pronounce, 
but to match what was being regulated and what was been identified in other places. She said 
there were a lot of skills there that she did not have the education for, but she did think the three 
that were on the Schedule I had been synthetic products of 7-OH. The City Attorney added that it 
is a temporary order: it is two years on Schedule I, with a one-year extension possible.  
 
Councilor Williams asked about patterns of usage: on the internet he saw people talking about 
spending $50–$100 per day and buying several at the store per time. He wondered whether that 
was common. Dr. Curtis thought it was very common to spend that much on it, noting that there 
is a tolerance that develops; some people will rotate types to avoid over tolerance. He said there 
is also patterns of usage. People may use the more stimulating products during the day to be 
more functional and use the more sedating products at night (e.g., to relax or as a sleep aid). 
Anything with addiction comes with people spending a lot of money. He explained the general 
internet subculture advice to rotate strains and take a few days off per week to avoid tolerance 

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much like opioids, or it will require a larger dose to produce the desired effects and that 
necessarily involves spending more money. It was not Dr. Curtis’ impression that a lot of people 
were “going broke” from this but said there were certainly cases where that happens.  
 
Councilor Ruttle-Miller heard the doctor mention something about proving age and asked if 
there is an age associated with buying this (i.e., could a 15-year-old access it?). Dr. Curtis said in 
general it is 18 years of age and over. Councilor Ruttle-Miller said there was no law. She asked if 
it depends on the store. Dr. Curtis thought it first would depend on the state: it is age restricted in 
many states, and he believed the age is usually 18 and not 21. He deferred to the City Attorney. 
There being no law on the books, Chair Filiault questioned how there could be any age 
restrictions. The City Attorney agreed, having not seen the restriction, she said there was not one. 
The federal restriction does not concern age. She speculated that the local shops have age 
restrictions on other things they sell, so they probably do it for this too, but she had not seen the 
restriction in the law. Dr. Curtis said it is often sold in smoke/vape shops, where other products 
are age restricted. Chair Filiault said he had personally gone around Keene and there are several 
convenience-type stores that have it on the market, so it is not just restricted to vape stores.  
 
Councilor Haas noted that he had seen no national publications or education going on about this. 
He wondered if there should be some more movement toward educating the population/public 
about the dangers of this natural drug and synthetic drug before the Council tries legislating it. 
He said this would be worth the City’s effort and time since there had been no real widespread 
education. That came across the Councilor’s eyes with the young people in his life. 
 
Councilor Williams asked Dr. Curtis if he was aware of the Kratom and Kava combination. Dr. 
Curtis said he had heard the name. He added that both drugs are used for sedating effects, and 
both have been associated with some reports of liver injury.  
 
Chair Filiault opened the floor to public comments. 
 
At Large City Councilor Michele Chalice thanked the Committee and the Council for their time 
looking at this issue preemptively. She said it seems a shame to wait until there is severe 
community damage. She said things are moving so quickly in our society in addition to all those 
stressors. So, she really appreciated taking the time to deliberate and give some thought to this 
issue.  
 
Chair Filiault agreed with Councilors Williams and Haas, which put him somewhere in the 
middle. He thought he had more questions than answers that came up during the meeting. He 
was leaning toward an ordinance. However, at the same time, he wanted to personally give 
himself a few more weeks to do some more digging. He did not think he was quite ready for an 
ordinance yet, but he was leaning there. Personally, he wanted to place this matter on More Time 
and bring it back in a couple of weeks to take another hard look at it. He told Councilor Williams 
that he was not suggesting by any stretch of the imagination to dismiss this item. He thought the 
Committee was leaning in the same direction and asked to hear from them. He did not think they 
were ready to make a unanimous decision this evening.  
 

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Councilor Ruttle-Miller was a little thrown off by the presentation because she spoke recently to 
somebody who works in a rehab facility and who said that they do not see a single person come 
through at this point who does not have some sort of usage (on top of anything else that they are 
also being treated for). She said it is viewed as a definite problem within their facility. So, 
Councilor Ruttle-Miller was expecting a little more based on that. She said there were no 
statistics, no study, and nothing behind the presentation other than somebody who works with 
folks who use these products regularly. She was not quite sure what she was anticipating for a 
presentation, but she came in thinking she knew what the Committee was going to hear. She 
tended to lean toward something, especially because there is no age regulation; that was what 
concerned her, like when kids started vaping a lot. Councilor Ruttle-Miller said she is always 
confused when she sees this weird herbal supplement and wonders what it is. She noted that she 
was a little more confused right now than she thought she would be. Chair Filiault agreed.  
 
Chair Filiault added that in the coming weeks he would like to go back to the Police Officers he 
had spoken with to hear from them more about what they have seen on the streets; Chair Filiault 
wants to dig a little deeper. He agreed with Councilor Ruttle-Miller that he came into the 
meeting thinking one way and now was a little bit more in the middle, leaning toward restriction, 
but he wanted to hear from more experts, including the Police Department.  
 
Councilor Haas agreed: more information is always good. As the City Manager mentioned, this 
would lead toward an education program. He was curious whether there were already education 
programs like that out there, which the City might adapt and start to roll out so people could get 
behind the City. Councilor Haas said that addictive personalities tend to use whatever they can 
pile on, stating that he was generalizing, of course. He compared it to the health food industry. 
He said that if the City is going to regulate Kratom specifically, he thought they would want to 
have more of the public’s understanding of the problem and education around it. Councilor Haas 
leaned toward holding the item for a bit to see what the Committee could come up with.  
 
The City Manager noted that there is also the Monadnock Youth Coalition, which is like the 
prevention group that was in Franklin, New Hampshire. It was under the same federal grant, and 
the City Manager said she would love to hear from them and what they had seen. In addition to 
that, she mentioned Keene Youth Services, which works with a lot of youth who are sometimes 
getting into trouble with the Police and finding ways to divert them from that type of activity. 
The City Manager was sure both of those groups would be able to provide a great deal of 
information about what they are seeing in the use of Kratom and these types of products.  
 
Chair Filiault hoped Councilor Williams knew and could appreciate that nobody likes waiting 
when they want to see something go forward. Still, Chair Filiault agreed with the City Manager 
and did not want to send something to the full Council that could be kicked back to the 
Committee for more answers. Chair Filiault wanted to place this on More Time until the next 
PLD meeting so the Committee could get it right before sending it to Council.  
 
Councilor Williams did not mind taking the time to get it right. He thinks people know he is not 
necessarily a prohibitionist. He thinks the Council should be calculating and smart about these 
things. His general feeling is that it is a very bad idea to put seriously addictive substances in 
easy reach of just about anybody, including the youth. He noted the federal government may be 

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doing something or not, so the City should be keeping an eye on that. Councilor Williams agreed 
that waiting a few weeks for this to be continued would not be such a bad thing.  
 
Vice Chair Jones also liked the idea of More Time. He said he favored legislation but did not 
think the Committee could ask staff to draft an ordinance without giving them some direction. 
He thought that the suggestions to hear from the Police and other experts would provide that 
direction. He said the Committee did not even know if they wanted to put an age limit on the 
substance, so he said they needed More Time, with the aim to give more direction. As far as 
educational awareness is concerned, Vice Chair Jones said sometimes legislation creates 
awareness. He hoped some of that could happen by creating legislation. 
 
The following motion by Councilor Williams was duly seconded by Councilor Haas. 
 
On a vote of 5 to 0, the Planning, Licenses and Development Committee recommends placing 
Councilor Williams’ Request to Consider Restricting the Sale of 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) 
and Concentrated Kratom Products on More Time. 
 
Councilor Haas asked if there was a means of requesting that the youth committees join the next 
meeting’s conversation. The City Manager said yes, she had already sent a message asking for 
that information and for someone to be present at the next meeting. 
 
2. Councilor Filiault - Request for Consideration of an Ordinance Amendment 
Regulating Dogs at Downtown Events 
3. Paul Allen-Webber - Request to Reconsider Ordinance O-2004-15-A Section (e) 
Regarding Dog Restrictions During the Pumpkin Festival Ordinance O-2004-15-A 
Relating to Dogs Running at Large 
 
Chair Filiault took these two items on the agenda together. He noted that Paul Allen-Webber (not 
a Keene resident) was not present to speak to his letter but had spoken with the Chair by phone. 
He added that he would take up consideration of this ordinance and the potential amendments, 
and accept and file Mr. Allen-Webber’s letter into the record as part of the overall discussion 
related to dogs at downtown events. 
 
Chair Filiault explained that his letter to the Mayor and City Council is to request the 
consideration of an ordinance regulating dogs at downtown events. He noted that there is already 
an Ordinance to regulate dogs at the Pumpkin Festival. The unfortunate part is that it relies on 
the organizers to regulate the dogs being at the event, which creates a problem within itself. This 
was brought to Chair Filiault’s attention at the last Taste of Keene Food Fest downtown, where 
multiple times, various groups of dogs got together; there were some situations that could have 
gotten out of hand rapidly. Chair Filiault witnessed it and had several citizens approach him 
saying the City must do something about this before something happens. During that time, he 
said his wife was unfortunately recently bitten by a dog. Thanks to Councilor Williams’ efforts 
to enact enforcement, a fine was put forward; he appreciated Councilor Williams working on that 
Ordinance. Chair Filiault noted all that comes with being bit by a dog, like many hospital visits 
and shots. Fortunately, the dog that bit his wife had its shots and could prove it. However, he said 
there could be situations downtown with people from out of town who cannot. Chair Filiault 

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suggested that this would be a case of being preemptive. He does not think that when there are a 
few thousand people downtown that it is the best place to be dragging your dog. With that said, 
he spoke with the City Attorney about the hope of putting together an ordinance so that people 
cannot bring their dogs within the footprint of downtown events. Chair Filiault welcomed input.  
 
Vice Chair Jones noted that Ordinance O-2004-15-A was included in the meeting packet and 
asked if this would be an amendment to that Ordinance, or if a new Ordinance would be created 
based on festivals. City Manager Ferland thought they would need to look at where it makes 
sense to include that in the 2004 Ordinance, which has the language specifically for the Pumpkin 
Festival. She said it might make sense to get rid of that and write some new language in a new 
Ordinance and repeal O-2004-15-A. 
 
To clarify the types of events, City Manager Ferland asked Chair Filiault whether he was looking 
at community events, which are specifically licensed and go through the City process; those are 
the larger events. Chair Filiault agreed that the larger events when there is a certain square 
footage in the footprint are the most concerning and having dogs be prohibited within the 
footprint of those major downtown events is what he is looking to achieve. Regarding defining 
major events, Councilor Haas could see it defined as anytime street closures are involved 
because that is when people are transiting and walking in different ways than they usually do, 
and they might be unaccustomed to where the flow goes. City Attorney Palmeira said it was 
brought to her attention that some events possibly have closures of very small roads that do not 
actually disrupt much and may not have a significant footprint; she said it might not be the same 
targeted event the Chair was thinking of if talking about an Ordinance. She said they might need 
to be aware of whether some events will fit into this concept. 
 
The City Manager said that was why she talked about community events, which are specifically 
defined. Those are events that come before the Council each year for some funding; they are they 
larger events that get licenses through the City. Chair Filiault agreed, stating that he thought it is 
there that there is potential for a problem because you are within a footprint, which the dogs get 
crowded into. He called it a good place to start and said it could be expanded down the road. 
Chair Filiault said this would be a new Ordinance, which would be enforced by the City and not 
by the event organizers. He cited the case of the Pumpkin Festival, which at this time has no 
Police; he said there is not an Ordinance that the Police enforce. It is set up so the event 
organizers must enforce the Ordinance, which puts an unnecessary burden on them and can put 
the average person in some uncomfortable situations. He said it would be different if it were a 
Police Officer enforcing it. He said public information would help also. The City Manager said 
that she thought if the Council were to do this, she talked with the City Attorney about including 
it within event licenses, to state that dogs are not allowed in the footprint of the event. Councilor 
Williams brought up the example of No King’s Day as an instance when this would not apply, 
and Chair Filiault agreed because there is not a footprint, although Councilor Williams said it 
uses the Gazebo. In general, Councilor Williams said political events (small to large) happen 
there, and he thought it should generally be kept out of this category. 
 
Councilor Haas asked if it could be possible to create this ordinance the Committee was tending 
toward for all community events, but then empower the protocol committees to make exceptions, 
if possible, as needed where appropriate. The City Attorney understood the protocol was that 

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these details would usually come up during the process with licensed events and there is a 
distinction between having something in the license and having an Ordinance separate from 
license conditions, so that it is enforced by police, which Chair Filiault was seeking. If the 
stipulation were through the license/protocol process, it would be something the license holders 
would be responsible for enforcing. Chair Filiault said that would be like what exists now for 
Pumpkin Festival. The City Attorney clarified that the Pumpkin Festival Ordinance in the City 
Code is a prohibition enforced by the Police, but it is currently the only event identified as such 
in the Code.  
 
Chair Filiault said he did not disagree with Councilor Williams, but like all things where 
politicians get together, he did not want to overcomplicate it. He wanted to start with the 
footprints of City events and if there is a need to expand, they could. Chair Filiault wanted to get 
something they could enforce sooner than later. He reiterated that it could be expanded later. 
Chair Filiault said the City had been lucky so far and stated that if somebody gets bit on City 
property, no matter who is organizing the event, they are coming after the City. 
 
Vice Chair Jones asked for this to come back as a draft Ordinance, so it would not have to be 
amended through many versions. Chair Filiault said he talked to the City Attorney about having 
a draft to get most of the decisions out of the Committee. 
 
Chair Filiault opened the floor to public comments. 
 
At Large City Councilor Michele Chalice wondered about the criteria of when surrounding 
streets are blocked off and whether the isolated area created by the City’s large trucks and 
concrete barriers could be the trigger for the associated size that would make this necessary. 
Chair Filiault said he heard what the Councilor was saying but that usually within a bigger 
footprint, it means a bigger crowd and vice versa; a smaller footprint does not necessarily make 
it any easier, it is just going to be more concentrated. He personally wanted to try to keep it 
simple and make it start off with downtown events. Chair Filiault agreed about bringing back a 
draft ordinance, so the Committee could get it right and it would not be kicked back by the full 
Council. 
 
Councilor Ruttle-Miller noted that she likes dogs (they all do), but that there are specific 
instances when she could see that this could be problematic. On the other side, she said most of 
the time, dogs she has seen at these events do not want to be there; they are there because of 
somebody who does not understand that their dog does not want to be there. It is way too much 
pressure for that animal to behave in that scenario. Then, she said there could be a lovely person 
with a dog at Pride Festival wearing a “hug me” shirt, which is nice and well behaved. Councilor 
Ruttle-Miller noted that unless it were an actual service animal, this would not preclude that. She 
stated this would also cut out any sort of emotional support animals, which do not fall under the 
same regulation. Chair Filiault said he was not disagreeing with Councilor Ruttle-Miller: Chair 
Filiault and his wife love dogs, until they get bit by one. Councilor Ruttle-Miller stated that this 
is a hard topic for her and it has nothing to do with the dogs and everything to do with the people 
putting dogs in bad situations. Chair Filiault said they are all dog lovers. 
 

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Councilor Haas said they would hear from the dog lovers when this comes to full Council. He 
said one thing to have in mind for the future is how the City defines service dogs or emotional 
comfort dogs. Chair Filiault said service dogs are totally separate, and every dog is an emotional 
comfort dog. 
 
The following motion by Councilor Haas was duly seconded by Vice Chair Jones. 
 
On a vote of 5 to 0, the Planning, Licenses and Development Committee recommends that the 
City Attorney draft an ordinance restricting dogs at all licensed downtown community events 
and return it as a draft at the next PLD meeting. 
 
4. Councilor Jones - Request for Consideration of an Ordinance Establishing a 
Temporary Moratorium on Data Centers and Cryptocurrency Mining Facilities 
 
Chair Filiault welcomed comments from the petitioner, Councilor Philip Jones. Vice Chair Jones 
said he first got thinking about this when he was up in the Statehouse and there was a bill before 
the house. It was Senate Bill 439, which would have allowed these entities to happen in any 
industrial or commercial zones of a municipality. Fortunately, it was tabled at the House and 
never brought back, so it died on the table, he said thankfully. He said that got his mind going 
about this. He noted it had been in the news a lot lately. He cited that Arizona had 180 of these 
data centers suddenly; they decided they wanted to be reactive, and they are suddenly finding out 
there are a lot of things they do not like about them, so they are putting a moratorium on them. 
Vice Chair Jones explained that Texas was inviting them to come to their state. Now, just this 
week, Governor Scott decided that they need to have regulations. The Governor of New York 
just introduced a two-year moratorium so they can create more regulations The City of Lowell, 
Massachusetts, has the largest data center in New England and Councilor Jones said they were 
going through lots of problems with the neighbors, for example. They have 28 generators 
running all day long with long diesel spewing fumes, with the diesel motors going all the time 
(air conditioners on the roof are humming all the time because they must keep it cool). So, he 
said it is bad quality of life for the people in Lowell, and they are finding out the hard way. 
 
Vice Chair Jones said the reason for suggesting a two-year moratorium is an indefinite sunset. 
He was asking for the two weeks so the Committee could be educated; there is a lot on social 
media, and they do not know what to believe. He called the keyword impact. He thought one 
way they could educate people on this would be to have a presentation or report from the Energy 
and Climate Committee on how this would impact Keene’s Sustainable Energy Plan, the 2015 
Greenhouse Gas Emissions report, and how it would affect Keene adapting to climate change. 
He wondered how it would affect Keene’s 2004 Climate Action Plan. He also thought about the 
Community Development perspective and how the data centers would affect Keene’s Master 
Plan; the Building, Health, and Fire Codes; the Water Department; and the Assessing 
Department and certain neighborhoods. He thought it would be great to hear from the 
Monadnock Economic Development Corporation because they might have another side to it: 
they might have the features and benefits to the City, especially ratables and employ-ables. He 
also thought the Council should hear from Southwest Region Planning Commission because this 
should be a regional issue. Vice Chair Jones added input from the New Hampshire Department 
of Environmental Services would be beneficial because they may already have some restrictions 

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and they could help the City to write some restrictions or regulations. He also believes that the 
New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission already has some regulations that would be great 
for the Council to hear. He suggested hearing from Eversource and Liberty Utilities as well about 
what is available for power (e.g., some of these places run off propane gas). He said there is a lot 
to be learned about all of this. Finally, he said the Council should hear from the public about this 
because it could affect their neighborhoods. He was not saying the City should not have data 
centers, he was just saying the Council should be proactive and not reactive. 
 
Vice Chair Jones said he asked City staff whether a resolution or an ordinance would be more 
appropriate, because an ordinance creates a law and a resolution creates a policy. Chair Filiault 
said he spoke with City Attorney Palmeira about that today and her recommendation was that the 
next step should be to send this to the Planning Board. Chair Filiault asked if that would be the 
correct procedure. City Attorney Palmeira said there is a specific channel to go through for the 
process they would recommend for the moratorium. There is a state statute on moratoria, and it is 
specifically for all the reasons Vice Chair Jones just described; these are all the various areas of 
information we want to adhere to while regulating it.  
 
The City Attorney said it would take a lot of research and a lot of understanding. She stated that 
a moratorium is the tool to freeze the status quo and to prevent any development while the City is 
doing that research. She said the moratorium does get referred to the Planning Board and first, 
the Planning Board by statute makes a recommendation of the need for a moratorium on the 
specific categories of use. Then, that recommendation would come to the legislative body, our 
City Council, to pass an ordinance. So, the City Attorney noted that the statute says that it would 
go through an ordinance. She also wanted to flag that the statute states a time frame for a 
moratorium of no more than one year, so the City would try to get all its work done in that time 
period.  
 
Chair Filiault recalled that the City would not set a precedent here because as mentioned, the 
Town of Nottingham, New Hampshire, and others have already made moratoria. That reminded 
Vice Chair Jones that there was a recent announcement that the Governor of New Hampshire 
was going to request a moratorium because of Nottingham and now Bow, New Hampshire, 
dealing with issues. He said unfortunately, the Governor is putting it through the budget process, 
which means it would go to House Bill 2, which is the “Christmas Tree Bill” where everybody 
puts their “ornaments” on it. It would not even be heard until April 2027, and it would not be 
finished until June 2027. Vice Chair Jones thought that was too much time. He thought Keene 
should get something on the books before that happens because there is no guarantee she would 
even be the Governor; there is no guarantee what the House and Senate would do.   
 
Councilor Haas thought there was a process laid out where it goes through the Planning Board 
and he imagined this Committee would make that recommendation. Reviewing the Land 
Development Code as the Committee had, Councilor Haas said there were virtually no 
limitations as such right now. The LDC does define data centers, but they are widely permitted 
with no special restrictions. He appreciated the City Attorney’s guidance.  
 
Councilor Williams said he had a few thoughts. First was that he was not terribly concerned 
about data centers opening in Keene soon because our price of electricity is so expensive. He 

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said they are opening in Texas and Arizona, which are places with ample solar renewable 
energy, and that is really what these things are moving into to take advantage of. Councilor 
Williams added that data centers have some very negative environmental effects. He cited 
particular concern about the effect on water: not just that it uses water, but that it heats water up, 
which is terrible for an ecosystem if it is then released into the environment. Nevertheless, he 
said he was not super concerned about them opening in Keene. He said we could see that here. 
Which was not to say he was against a moratorium. Yet he wanted to make sure it is not 
“bigfooting a lot of the, I wouldn't call them a data center.” He compared these giga scale centers 
with their own power plants to the office where he works, which has a server room and several 
racks of servers. He would like to continue being able to have a server room and several racks of 
servers. He would like to be able to build that without too much hassle anywhere in Keene. 
Councilor Williams said he recognized there is a certain scale at which the City would probably 
want to say, “let's not do that,” but he wanted to understand what that scale is before agreeing to 
a moratorium.  
 
Vice Chair Jones added that at the Joint Planning Board-Planning, Licenses and Development 
(PB-PLD) Committee meeting he would have a request for definitions to use for zoning 
purposes. He said it would be a little bit different than how they are identified as uses within 
certain zones. He thought they would probably be conditional uses or overlays, where they can 
be regulated and not put up against neighborhoods (e.g., like the City did with casinos). Vice 
Chair Jones asked whether the Planning Board (PB) would make a recommendation that would 
come back to the Council, because the Planning Board cannot create an ordinance, the Council 
can. The City Attorney said that is right.  
 
The City Attorney said, to Councilor Williams’ question, part of the City Council’s requirement 
for creating a moratorium is identifying categories of development to which the ordinance 
applies. She said staff spoke internally about how data centers are already defined and the City’s 
own IT Department was a little concerned about prohibiting its own servers. So, there would be 
an intent to narrow it down to not prohibit what the City wants and have it really serve as a 
temporary definition while staff do the work for the Zoning Ordinance. To Vice Chair Jones, the 
City Attorney said he was correct and that his letter would be coming up at the Joint PB-PLD 
Committee, starting the conversation of how the City is going to define data centers for more of a 
permanent Zoning Ordinance, not the temporary one that would be in the moratorium. The City 
Attorney's office will be at the Joint Committee to talk about that, and their recommendation is 
going to be if this Council does suggest going forward with a moratorium, then the Joint 
Committee should put that on more time while the moratorium gets in place. Then, that would be 
the trigger to start the long-term work for the regulation. Vice Chair Jones said that was exactly 
the way he would like to see it and thanked the City Attorney.  
 
Mayor Jay Kahn (of Mountain View Drive) said it was good to hear the one-year guard rail. He 
thought it was helpful that there would be some standard established across the state. He thought 
there would be a lot of evidence that comes from legislation, regardless of whether it is finalized 
in April, but he thought Keene was clearly in an investigative point in our country. He did not 
think that anybody wanted to act out of fear in prohibition because this is progress and we ought 
to be trying to set up what are the appropriate guardrails to that progress. The Mayor shared a 
story about being on Dan Mitchell’s radio show and discussing data centers in Keene. He agreed 

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with Councilor Williams about questioning the definition of a data center. Mayor Kahn said 
there are lots of potential data centers: there is a website on WMUR listing about one dozen in 
New Hampshire; four of those are under the name of First Light and one of those First Light 
locations is in Keene. There is also one in Lebanon, Portsmouth, and Manchester. The Mayor 
said the City does not want to put a prohibition or a moratorium on existing data centers; they are 
not causing much harm currently and he has not heard complaints. So, Mayor Kahn said the 
City’s definitions really need to be forthcoming. He suspected if this went to the PB, there would 
be a Public Hearing. There is not necessarily action to be taken following a Public Hearing but at 
least the Council would get more perspective on what the definitions ought to be. Mayor Kahn 
called it a good question that Vice Chair Jones raised. The Mayor said the City does not want to 
make guidelines that inhibit current uses because its definitions were not accurate enough.  
 
Al Smith (of Keene) has lived in Keene for one year and has 30 years’ experience in the data 
center industry working for a private company, which wrapped up with the design and build of 
data centers globally (a private company; they were all very small). The question Mr. Smith kept 
coming back to is “what is a data center?” He worked with ASHRAE and some other significant 
industry experts and said no one can answer the question because they range from a small 
telecom closet to in the case of Lowell, 350,000 square foot buildings, which is a reuse of an old 
factory. Mr. Smith called the latter a great opportunity, but it does come with the negatives: the 
noise, the diesel exhaust. In the company he worked for, they ran generator tests every single 
week on a Tuesday morning and they knew not to park their cars near the exhaust, or they would 
be covered in diesel soot. He provided other examples of how neighbors might have been 
disrupted on the weekends. He explained the noise that comes from the commercial locations, 
which could be next to residential locations, and it is very concerning because the noise carries. 
He shared experience of being at “data center row” in Ashburn, VA, stating that they never get a 
break. Mr. Smith commented on how the background humming noise is still there even when the 
cicadas go away. He said to imagine that in this nice valley, stating that it would be all anyone 
hears in the background: there would never be another quiet night.  
 
Mr. Smith continued that most companies who are building a data center are going to get a deal 
with an electric company because they are buying a lot of power, so they get a better price, and 
that is something else to be concerned with as well, because that raises the demand. If they are 
getting a better price, then the people who are just living in a house that are not making a big 
payment are not going to get the same deal. Those are the concerns Mr. Smith has as a resident. 
He continued about when you start talking about the thousands of gallons of water. It is not 
always cooling; sometimes it adds humidity to keep the equipment running. He pointed out that 
Keene is not heavily connected. Unlike Lowell, Keene does not have a main heavy duty fiber 
connection into Boston. That is why Lowell was a potential connection. So, Mr. Smith said there 
are a lot of negatives. He knew one of the big pluses was that states like Texas and Arizona were 
convincing companies to move there. He said that does not make sense when you look at the 
water requirement, and they promise jobs. Mr. Smith wanted to warn people, having worked in a 
couple of data centers that were 50,000 plus square feet, he said they minimize the number of 
people on the floor: there are not a lot of jobs actually on site, they are remote workers doing 
things, possibly in another country sending the instructions to those servers. He said for every 
positive that is sold there is a negative. He added that they are great for construction jobs in the 

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short term, but he did not think there were any companies in Keene that were experts at building 
data centers; they would come in from outside as well.  
 
Vice Chair Jones asked, when Mr. Smith said Keene does not have the connection, was he 
talking about the data connection? Mr. Smith said yes, the heavy-duty fiber connectivity to bring 
in gigabits of data transfer, which would be more in the metropolitan areas. He discussed the 
subsea cables that come across the Atlantic Ocean, terminating in Virgina, making Ashburn, 
Virginia, the perfect spot for data centers. Boston has some of that connectivity as well, in 
addition to New York. Without access to subsea cables, Mr. Smith said it would be less likely 
that companies would move heavy duty colocation facilities like the one in Lowell, 
Massachusetts, to Keene, New Hampshire. It would involve a lot of heavy-duty trenching and 
underground work. Mr. Smith shared an experience building a remote site in Western Maryland 
and leasing cables that were run already along Route 70 all the way up to Colorado. The big 
telecommunication companies have already put these in; they generally stick to the major 
highways. He said Brattleboro is closer to Hwy-91, so those commercial facilities would be more 
readily available to connect than Keene’s. Mr. Smith called it something to think about, stating it 
was nothing to do with the moratorium and more to do with education. He closed by stating the 
four things needed for data centers: (1) water, (2) power, (3) cooling, and (4) connectivity. Vice 
Chair Jones appreciated Mr. Smith as an excellent resource. 
 
Councilor Williams reiterated what Mr. Smith said about connectivity. Councilor Williams 
investigated hosting servers in Keene. It is far more expensive because of the lack of 
connectivity. 
 
Chuck Redfern (of 9 Colby Street) thanked Mr. Smith for providing great information. In Mr. 
Redfern’s opinion, stating he is no expert at this, but he thought Mr. Smith did throw a bit of a 
cautionary tale not to jump into it with blinders. Mr. Redfern said that feeds into the need for a 
moratorium, not to stop it, but to give us a chance to figure it out. Technology is moving at a 
rapid rate, just like so many things in the technology field, but this is one that we need to grasp 
where in Keene a data center would likely go. He said a lot of things in the “unknown” column 
end up in the East Keene neighborhood, where he resides. So, Mr. Redfern had some concerns 
that he wanted addressed during the moratorium. He would like to look at the other towns that 
were mentioned and do an AI of the pros/cons on the subject. He mentioned considerations like 
noise generated from the AC units on roof fixtures. He asked why to be the first in the area to 
implement it. He asked what would be wrong with a relatively short moratorium of one year, 
which he hoped would be two years; he felt one year was short. Mr. Redfern said the output 
value to the community has got to be the bottom-line question. He said we must somehow limit 
the output from these facilities (i.e., water use, which is precious). Mr. Redfern cited a Mayoral 
study from a few years ago about trends occurring with the water supply and change in the 
environment with global warming. Mr. Redfern said this is something that must be careful and 
well thought out. He said none in the room were experts; the closest was probably Councilor 
Jones. Mr. Redfern asked whether this would be going to the Joint PB-PLD Committee, and Vice 
Chair Jones said no, the Planning Board. The City Attorney clarified that Vice Chair Jones 
submitted two letters so there were two tracks: (1) if this Committee recommended to the City 
Council to refer this to the PB, (2) if that gets carried out the second letter from Vice Chair 
Jones, would be at the Joint PB-PLD Committee, concerning definitions for a data center. Mr. 

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Redfern concluded by stating that he does question the value of cryptocurrency and whether it is 
a value to our society or not. He suggested a moratorium to do some more serious research on 
this.  
 
Robin Walden (157 Pako Avenue) said she has a lot of concerns around data centers in our 
community. First, electricity. Also, a lot of times when data centers install new plants, 
substations, and lines, often those costs get downshifted to residential customers. Ms. Walden 
cited water usage; any research she had done, or news reports, showed that communities near 
these data centers do not have water pressure. She asked what would happen if that occurred in 
Keene? Next, she cited the constant noise of the data centers. Ms. Walden stated that she has 
lived a blessed and quiet life at her home for the last 29 years and she is not looking to change 
that. She said the diesel generators emit fumes and fine particle pollutants that harm local air 
quality and human health: the decibels emitted from these generators can reach 90 decibels and 
levels over 85 are harmful to hearing. Ms. Walden mentioned lower property values and the 
taxes: “if I ever go to sell my house and there's a data center near me, that's not going to happen. 
I'm not going to recoup what I've put in.” Her research agreed that there are far fewer jobs after 
data centers are built. For the case in Lowell, Massachusetts, she believed they had 12 people on 
site for that massive facility. So, she thought that advertising more jobs to Keene would be a 
false narrative. She also read that public health researchers have started evaluating how the 
broader environmental and structural footprints of data centers, specifically emissions from 
generators, cooling chemicals, and resource strain, could indirectly act as risk factors for 
reproductive health. Finally, Ms. Walden mentioned wildlife: we are disrupting their ecosystems, 
pulling water from rivers, and disrupting all of that. Ms. Walden stated that she would love the 
whole thing kiboshed but would be happy if the Council at least did a moratorium to look into 
this further. She does not think the City should put progress ahead of human health and quality of 
life. 
 
Councilor Laura Tobin (of Center Street) said she, like a lot of people, has concerns. She thought 
there were a lot of unanswered questions. She cited a couple of things she hoped the Council 
would consider if it chose to do a moratorium. She cited the City’s renewable energy goals and 
how that would fit in with this. She noted that a lot of people are using AI now, and she 
wondered what the City’s fair share is of carrying that infrastructure. She wondered how that fit 
in with the PB’s Process. She does not want to be the City that says we have to just build 
somewhere else; she felt that the City had been there with a lot of other things too.  
 
Eli [last name not given] (of Keene) said his concern is about the ecosystem and the 
environment. He has some knowledge in that as a fisherman. He said the biggest thing is 
studying and knowing your environment and how the ecosystem works. He noted there are a lot 
of great ecosystems locally in and around Keene, and if you are pulling water from the 
watersheds to cool that down, possible pollutants could easily cripple some of the great 
ecosystems we have. Let alone he said it is probably not the best for animals or human 
consumption on top of that if it produces a noise. He noted that high humming and everything 
else is not the best for anyone’s health, from animals to people, and could lead to some different 
syndromes. Still, Eli said the biggest thing is the not the water being cooled but the pollutants 
that cripple the ecosystem and make it a lot rougher for outdoorsmen especially to make money 
from guiding and everything else that is very fragile. It could very well impact the environments 

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locally too. Eli said that is the biggest thing to keep in mind when doing research into it: it is 
something that a lot of the outdoorsman would want the Council to keep in mind. He said on top 
of whether this is something that we should allow in our communities or not.  
 
Councilor Michele Chalice said she received two calls about this, so she thanked Councilor/State 
Representative Jones for bringing this to the Council’s attention. The two calls Councilor Chalice 
received were requests to add U.S. Department of Human Services Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement (ICE) detention centers to the list of data centers and cryptocurrency mining 
facilities due to the fact that a large facility would be potentially having similar impacts to our 
natural resources: water quality, water quantity, air quality, and potential sound disturbances. 
They were specifically requesting that if the Council were going to go through all this research 
that they would make sure they cover all their bases of potential large impacts to our community 
by these larger developments. Vice Chair Jones stated that detention centers were in his request 
to the PB-PLD Committee for definitions.  
 
Jeannie Kingsbury (of Spruce Street) was glad to be having this meeting on data centers and 
about these broader impacts that can be called progress, but she questioned whether progress is 
so great when we live in a bowl. So, she said all that noise and pollution is trapped here with all 
of us; it is foggy, you can smell things, and you can see the pollution. She said they already get 
poor air quality alerts on their phones, and this would have an impact. She said these other places 
like Texas and Arizona are large, big, flat areas with a lot less populace, where the noise is less 
of a problem. Whereas in Keene, with the populace the noise and pollution would be a problem. 
She said it would not bring in jobs, citing the example from Lowell. She said these data centers 
are meant to replace people and jobs nationwide, which is why the people with the money are 
pushing for them. So, Ms. Kingsbury said the Council has to look at what kind of community we 
want here in Keene: do you want a welcoming community to manufacturers or companies that 
are actually going to employ people or places that are actually going to work to get rid of people. 
She was glad that the City was saying that it needs to slow down on this and look at what is 
going on. She agreed that there are businesses with server rooms, yes, but said those businesses 
employ a lot of people, using the hospital as a prime example. In the big scheme of things she 
said they were talking about impacts to people, to public lands and animals, and the environment. 
Ms. Kingsbury was glad Keene was saying to investigate this a little bit more. She said we 
cannot just let these companies steamroll themselves in saying progress, because progress is not 
always a good thing. Chair Filiault agreed.  
 
Terry Clark (of 14 Barrett Avenue) did not come to necessarily speak for or against data centers, 
AI, or any of that, because as been noted, data centers and AI have been around here for a long 
time. The data centers especially. He thought the reason that we had been hearing so much about 
it is the dramatic increase in the interest in AI and in the number of companies that have that 
have formed to get into it in a big way. Mr. Clark is a member of the Nonpartisan National 
Association of Counties, Energy, and Land Use Steering Committee, which has been helping to 
craft a resolution urging protection of local authority over data centers, data privacy processing 
facilities, and which include cryptocurrency mining operations. He said the reason they got 
involved is because President Trump, in March of 2026, issued an executive order 14-318 titled 
Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure that was directing federal agencies 
to ease regulatory burdens and rapidly build out large data center projects. He said the translation 

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of that is to cut local governments out of the regulatory loop and forego the usual impact studies 
that could identify problems and implement solutions. State and federal lawmakers have already 
proposed or enacted legislation that limits or prohibits local governments from regulating the 
development of these energy and water hungry facilities, and it had been noted about the price of 
electricity around these data centers. Mr. Clark said utility customers in Maryland and 
Washington, DC, are some of the first in the country to see the effects of the data center boom 
show up on their residential electricity bills. Much of that price increase is due to the anticipation 
of future demand. That is the way the pricing works and is a part of the reason we have very high 
energy costs in New England data centers; they can be built faster than new supply resources like 
power plants, so the market is not competitive because projected demand exceeds supply and 
new supply cannot be timely built to restrain the prices. 
 
Mr. Clark said the Nonpartisan National Association of Counties, Energy, and Land Use Steering 
Committee’s proposal urges Congress to pass legislation to protect the authority of local 
governments to regulate, restrict, or ban data centers within their jurisdictions. The National 
Association of Counties, Energy, and Land Use Steering Committee is a 3,600-county strong 
organization that has been very effective in influencing the actions of Congress. So, Mr. Clark 
said the technology is here to stay, and he does not really oppose it; in fact, it can be beneficial if 
applied with proper safeguards. He said that if we do not let technology get ahead of the society 
curve. We will have a medical breakthrough and implement something just to find out that this 
miracle drug causes mass addiction, for example. So, he said we must be careful to slow things 
down, so that we can understand them before we start acting with them. Mr. Clark thanked the 
Councilman for bringing it all up because we really need time to sort all these things out. He said 
there are a lot of really serious questions: who owns and benefits from the technology and the 
centers, and where are they best located? How do we safeguard our electrical grid and water 
supplies? Most importantly, who makes those decisions? Mr. Clark was glad the Council was 
getting involved because this was really taking off at the County level and he hoped the City 
would be successful.   
 
Vice Chair Jones agreed with motion but first wanted to ask the City Manager if the various 
entities, boards, departments, and so on that he mentioned in the beginning could be notified and 
asked if they would like to present some data that the Council or Planning Board could use in 
their research. The City Manager thought we would want to invite them to the Planning Board 
for their process when they are considered. Vice Chair Jones said that was what he was asking: 
for the Planning Board Public Hearing.   
 
The following motion by Vice Chair Jones was duly seconded by Chair Filiault. 
 
On a vote of 5 to 0, the Planning, Licenses and Development Committee recommends that the 
Request for Consideration of an Ordinance Establishing a Temporary Moratorium on Data 
Centers and Cryptocurrency Mining Facilities be referred to the Planning Board. 
 
 
 
 

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5. Relating to Amendments to Article VII. - Food Service Establishments - Ordinance O-
2026-14 
 
Chair Filiault welcomed Compliance Inspector Ryan Lawliss (who also does Food Inspections) 
and Fire Marshal, Rick Wood. Mr. Lawliss said that before the Committee this evening was a 
proposal to remove and replace Chapter 46, Article 7, which would update the Keene Food Code 
from the 2009 FDA Food Code to the 2022 FDA Food Code. The Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA) updates the Food Code periodically to reflect current food safety, science, and practices. 
So, this will bring the City in line with the balance of the rest of the state and most of the nation. 
No other jurisdiction in New Hampshire is currently operating under a version older than 2017. 
Mr. Lawliss made the Committee aware that the City had been notifying its food establishments 
over the last year that this would be coming and talking to them about what that may entail, as 
well as how City staff will be working with them once it is in passed to bring them into 
compliance. It will be a work in progress with them and not something that happens right away. 
Chair Filiault said this is basically just staying in compliance with state statute/code. Mr. Lawliss 
said no, Keene has authority as a self-inspecting municipality and adopts its own Ordinance 
along with 14 other municipalities. Keene would be the last one to do this update. Keene is just 
trying to be more in line with the rest of the state, so that as businesses and people are in town, 
they can understand that we are following the most current up-to-date sciences. 
 
Councilor Haas thanked Mr. Lawliss for putting this forward and getting the City up to date on 
codes. Councilor Haas is always worried about the impact and what the issues will be with our 
existing food purveyors and restaurant/food establishments. He asked Mr. Lawliss to comment 
on what he had heard from them as far as what they would need to change or how this would 
impact them. Mr. Lawliss said the food Code was from 2009, and this went into effect in 2017; 
this would also be seen in 2022 as well. It is called a Certified Food Protection Manager 
Requirement, which requires somebody to have training on certification as being able to handle 
food safely and to oversee the staff. This puts a responsibility for food safety on the management 
level, which helps to, rather than relying solely on inspectors, and inspectors being there all the 
time to make sure that the consistency of health and safety is contained throughout. While this is 
one of the largest changes, Mr. Lawliss said it would shock him to understand that a lot of even 
some of the smaller, locally owned establishments have somebody who has undergone this 
training.  
 
Councilor Haas said it is basically like an upgrade from ServSafe. Mr. Lawliss said ServSafe is 
basically the norm. In having owned food service establishments in the past, Chair Filiault said it 
was always upgraded year to year in most levels, so he did not think this was “inventing the new 
light bulb here.” Mr. Lawliss agreed that almost all the larger chains require all their supervisors 
and managers to do this, and a lot of the local restaurants too, like Sole Bar, where the owner is a 
trainer for ServSafe, so she offers training to staff throughout in different restaurants. Mr. 
Lawliss said this is nothing new, the City is just codifying the requirement.  
 
Councilor Haas said this requires some certified training to be acquired. He asked where this 
training would come from: does the City need to hire a professional agency to train and certify 
them? Mr. Lawliss said yes, ServSafe is one of the most common examples that is done online. 
The one the City is looking into is making sure they are certified. He said a lot of people with 20 

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years of experience could probably go take that test tomorrow and pass it without any issues. It is 
online and not overly burdensome. Councilor Haas asked if there is a cost associated with the 
training and certification. Mr. Lawliss thought it was a couple of hundred dollars. Councilor 
Haas asked how many years the certification is good for, and Mr. Lawliss said five years. 
Councilor Haas asked if any Keene food establishments already have this on their own. Mr. 
Lawliss said yes, most do; certainly, the chain restaurants or establishments that are franchises 
and other local places like Sole and Grenada. The City would work with the smaller 
establishments case-by-case to connect them with the resources and get them on track. Councilor 
Haas noted the City has a lot of smaller establishments in the downtown, so he would be looking 
to hear information back from the food purveyors.  
 
Fire Marshal Rick Wood pointed out that the enactment of this is planned for after the City’s 
current food license renewal. So, the goal is to get this enacted post-September 30, 2026, because 
that is when the City’s food licenses are renewed. That means that everybody is going to have 
one year before any of the changes really hit from that training perspective because they are 
already licensed. So, there is that one-year working period as well as the fact that some of the fee 
adjustments are going to be one year out. Fire Marshal Wood thought that was helpful to 
understand the context of implementation. 
 
Councilor Haas was a little disappointed that there was no representation from our food industry 
here to speak as to how well they can take this on or adapt it / comply with it. He asked what 
kind of communications have gone out to them about this happening. Mr. Lawliss said a lot of 
the new restaurants that came to town from Manchester or out-of-state on Main Street in the past 
year were shocked to learn that they did not have to provide certification. He said it is common 
practice to have to provide that information. He said when vendors for festivals come from out-
of-state, they send him certifications out of habit. So, Mr. Lawliss thought this would bring the 
City more in line with what is a custom for many. He was sure there were a few they would have 
to work with more and staff would work with those establishments as they do all the time.   
 
Fire Marshal Wood asked if this affects all classes of food licenses. Mr. Lawliss said there are 
some exceptions. It is based on risk. For example, a convenience store that has all prepackaged 
food and items would not be required to have this type of certification. 
 
Chair Filiault knew there were two variations: ServSafe Food and ServSafe Alcohol. He asked 
whether ServSafe Alcohol would be included in this. Mr. Lawliss said this is ServSafe Manager 
Training.  
 
Councilor Ruttle-Miller said she had experience in the restaurant industry, having spent several 
years serving and bartending, and as a consumer. She said she has no qualms with requiring 
additional safety certifications because she had worked in both places that do follow ServSafe 
and places that do not. She said she had experienced a variety of people willing to follow those 
rules regardless, and consumers always just have to kind of make choices for themselves where 
to go. Councilor Ruttle-Miller said that it is not like multiple weeks of training and multiple 
thousands of dollars of investments. She did understand for smaller establishments that these are 
higher hoops to jump through. However, she thinks that making sure your staff is certified and 
knows how to properly handle food in a safe manner is an important component in owning an 

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establishment. Fire Marshal Wood noted that not all staff have to be certified. There must be one 
person who is a Certified Food Safety Manager when the business is open, which he called an 
important delineation. Chair Filiault said hopefully everybody is trained by that manager. 
 
Councilor Haas said he was troubled that this was all new to him due to his own ignorance of the 
topic. So, he thanked the presenters for the update. However, without hearing the acceptance of 
this from the food service community, Councilor Haas said he was troubled with it. He said it 
appeared like another change that the City is just putting out that the stakeholders have not had a 
chance to react to. He could imagine hearing from them later about having to do a $200 training 
session when their margins are so thin; they may feel like the City is pressing them again. So, 
Councilor Haas said he was uncomfortable with this on that basis. He said it would have been 
great if staff had brough several restaurant owners to the meeting to speak about how great it is 
and how happy they are with it making their businesses better because they can put the decal in 
their front window. Chair Filiault said he would be interested in that feedback also and to hear 
someone say why they are not ServSafe. Fire Marshal Wood said another thing to realize was 
that staff had been talking about this with those restaurants for about one year as they had been 
working through this process; this is not something that had just started within the past few 
months. Staff had been having those conversations and checking to see who has credentials. 
Most places have Time Temperature Controlled Foods (TCS), so they have somebody already. 
Fire Marshal Wood said there are very few in that category who do not have somebody. Chair 
Filiault added that they would not have to do this by September 30, 2026, they would need to get 
their licenses by September 30 and then have one year to comply.  
 
City Manager Elizabeth Ferland added that it was important to remember that by adopting this, 
the City would still be behind. This is based off the 2022 FDA model food Code, which updates 
every five years. The City Manager said she thought this update is very much needed; it might 
have been needed a few years ago. It took the City a long time to get here and she did not think it 
would be a big lift for most organizations. 
 
Chair Filiault opened the floor to public comments.  
 
Councilor Laura Tobin (of Center Street) said she had worked at a food establishment and ate at 
plenty in Keene. She has had food poisoning multiple times from restaurants outside of Keene. 
Councilor Tobin said she would feel very uncomfortable if the City did not make food as safe as 
possible for people to consume. She understood that there may be effort on behalf of some of the 
food establishments. However, to Councilor Tobin, this is just protecting the people who live 
here. 
 
The following motion by Councilor Williams was duly seconded by Vice Chair Jones. 
 
On a vote of 4 to 1, the Planning, Licenses and Development Committee recommends the 
adoption of Ordinance O-2026-14. Councilor Haas voted in opposition. 
 
6. Adjournment 
 
There being no further business, Chair Filiault adjourned the meeting at 7:54 PM. 

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Respectfully submitted by, 
Katryna Kibler, Minute Taker 
 
Reviewed and edited by, 
Terri Hood, City Clerk