diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index 458c922f7f..e4949e6137 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@
         "^com.fasterxml.jackson.core"
       ],
       "groupName": "jackson dependencies"
+    },
+    {
+      "excludePackageNames": ["org.apache.commons"]
     }
   ],
   "semanticCommits": true,
diff --git a/synth.py b/synth.py
index 5956987ef1..c5fa20f236 100644
--- a/synth.py
+++ b/synth.py
@@ -36,5 +36,5 @@
   )
 
 java.common_templates(excludes=[
-    '.kokoro/build.bat' # TODO: remove this when we switch to actions
+    'renovate.json' # excluding due to common-lang3 dep added to renovate.json
 ])
\ No newline at end of file