COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Commerce City leaders are deciding Monday night if the city should hit pause on data center development.
At their regularly scheduled meeting, city council will consider a six-month moratorium on approving data center development plans or zoning applications.
See the full story from Alex Dowd in the video below
Council communications say the city’s land development code doesn’t address some of the “unique characteristics of data center facilities.”
The draft ordinance says data centers can have significant impacts on city infrastructure like power and water supply, neighborhood character and surrounding land use.
With growing interest in building these large scale computer system warehouses, city council officials are deciding if they should take a step back and “establish a reasonable period of time during which permit applications, site development plans and amendments, and zoning applications for new or expanded data centers will not be processed or approved.”
The ordinance says that during the six-month pause, officials and city staff will take the time to research and potentially develop amendments to existing regulations that specifically address data centers.
A survey from Magellan Strategies shows that Colorado residents are overwhelmingly opposed to data centers in their neighborhoods with 86% of surveyed voters opposing a data center near their neighborhood.
This isn’t the first time a Colorado city has considered this type of pause. In early August, Aurora City Council voted down a similar six-month moratorium.
Instead, Aurora officials opted to create regulations to address community concerns heard during that meeting.
Weeks later, the council voted unanimously to ban evaporative cooling systems for new developments.
That’s an option for Commerce City officials. While the staff recommendation is to pass the six month ban as written, councilmembers have the option to accept, amend, revisit or reject this ordinance.
If accepted, the city won’t be able to approve any data center development plans or applications until March 2027.
That timeline can be extended with another council vote.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.