AURORA, Colo. — Aurora City Council just shut down an effort to even reconsider a data center moratorium, amid boos and cries from Aurora residents at Monday night's meeting.
The motion to suspend council rules failed, 6 yes to 5 no, just before midnight. Andrews, Bergen, Gardner, Hancock and Lawson voted no.
Without the seven votes needed to move forward under current council rules, council members were unable to discuss the moratorium.
It’s the latest setback in a long fight over the 900,000 square foot Trident data center. The proposed site is just a stone’s throw from homes in Aurora.
Residents waited hours to make their plea to city leaders Monday night.
“This has turned into an amazing, colossal fiasco. So I think it’s time to start reflecting what went wrong here? How did this all happen?” Aurora resident Ray Czaplewski said.
Public comment extended well into the early morning hours on Tuesday.
“The council has been quick and smart to take steps on the residential front to mitigate the water supply concerns, especially around lawn watering,” said southeast Aurora resident Nathan Lyon. “So why would you negate all that progress without proper regulations on mass water users like data centers and fracking operations?”
Denver City Councilmember Stacie Gilmore, an outspoken critic of the Trident site, which sits on Denver's border, also addressed Aurora city leaders late Monday night.
"“Everyone has a moratorium on them because we have zero laws… to regulate them," she told Aurora city council members.
"I think we’re going to just have to keep pushing forward and find a a way to get it away from our homes," homeowner Michael Llanos said.
Over the summer, city council rejected a six-month moratorium and the mayor was the tie-breaking vote. Now, the mayor is coming out in support of an indefinite moratorium. Denver7 asked the mayor about the change in position.
"Before I felt that well, it's OK, we can go ahead, we we don't need a moratorium," Coffman said. "We'll just go ahead with the regulations. Then when I saw Trident, I thought wow, if I don't want to see any more of those and I don't want to see from the time that we begin debate, and by the time that we enact these regulations, I don't want to see more data center applications come through that are subject under current law, current regulations, which are inadequate."
After Monday night's vote to discuss the indefinite moratorium did not pass, Coffman said he will be bringing back the same motion with the same resolution at the next regular city council meeting.
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