County council weighs six-month pause on large data centers

"I want to know the facts—good or bad—about large-scale data centers before we even consider letting one get established in our county," Ehlmann says.

The plan, introduced at the June 29 council meeting, would use the county government’s environmental and health protection authority to enact the moratorium throughout the entire county, including inside city boundaries, where county regulations do not usually apply.

"There are no data center proposals before us, but one could come at any time, and people are already calling for bans, so we need to gather as much information as we can now," Ehlmann says.

Sponsoring council members Mike Elam and Patti York say the goal is to give the county time to study the potential impacts on public health, water resources, electric utility infrastructure, environmental quality, light pollution and noise conditions.

The legislation notes there has not yet been a comprehensive study in the county on the lasting effects of large-scale data centers on environmental resources, infrastructure or residential quality of life.

The proposed moratorium defines "large scale" data centers as having an electrical demand of more than 5 megawatts, occupying more than 100,000 square feet or having multiple buildings intended to function together as a data center.

During the moratorium, the county plans to hold a public hearing on data centers, hosted by the county departments of Public Health, Information Systems and Community Development. Residents, municipalities, utility providers and industry representatives will have a chance to provide comment.

The county will publish findings from the hearing, including any recommendations for county ordinances governing large-scale data centers.

The proposed moratorium could come up for a vote as soon as the July 13 council meeting.