BRIGHTON, Colo. — A proposal to build a 2.5 million-square-foot data center campus in northeast Brighton has caught residents off guard and prompted several city officials to call for a pause on data center development.
Neighbors uncovered the early-stage proposal through an open records request sent to the City of Brighton. The documents detail two pre-application conference meetings held in January and July of last year between planning firm Dewberry and city officials. The records outline a proposal to build eight two-story data center buildings on land near County Road 4 and 50th Avenue, each approximately 315,000 square feet.
The documents also outline plans for a network of private roads surrounding the eight data center buildings.
The City of Brighton confirmed it received a rezoning application to allow a data center on the site, but the proposal has not yet come before city council for a public hearing.
Abby Goens, who grew up in northeast Brighton, said the news of the data center proposal came as a shock, and from an unlikely source.
"It was a little shocking just to hear about it just out of the blue, scrolling on TikTok on a Tuesday afternoon," said Goens. "I just happened to notice the background, and I was like, 'Oh, that's pretty close to our property.'"
She said a massive data center would fundamentally change the neighborhood she calls home.
"You move out here for the quiet, and that's not quiet," Goens said. "I don't want light shining into my windows. I don't want to have to have to stare at a data center and hear it constantly at night."
City documents from the January pre-application meeting show Brighton officials flagged water demand as a concern, noting that a water resources report would be required to determine demand. Officials also raised questions about cooling system technology and the recycling rate of any water looping systems used on site.
Brighton City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Peter Padilla told Denver7 he is proposing a 90-day moratorium on data center applications during the next city council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6. He said Brighton currently has no specific zoning code, rules, or regulations governing data centers.
"Data centers are large structures. They have high demands," said Padilla. "I wanted to be sure that before we consider any potential application for a data center that we put those things in place."
He said water is a particular concern for Brighton.
"Water is always a concern because we live in an arid climate, and in Brighton, we have a limited amount of water. Our water is not provided by mountain springs and the Colorado River. Our water comes from aquifers underground," Padilla said.
If the moratorium passes, Brighton would join a growing list of Colorado communities that have paused new data center development, including Denver, Broomfield, Commerce City, Loveland, Larimer County, Jefferson County, and Boulder County.
Padilla acknowledged the broader national pushback against data centers, calling it a sign of the complicated moment communities are navigating.
"Artificial intelligence is incredibly valuable and incredibly scary," Padilla said. "Data centers are a necessary part of business. We use them in everything that we do, day in and day out. But they're big, and we do want to put high demand, high traffic functions in the right places in the community."
When asked whether Brighton is the right place for a data center, Padilla said it depends.
"I think we have need for new development, and we have the ability to support development, and we have a need to create spaces for additional industrial development in the community. So that's really the best I can answer on that. It's not really a yes or no," he said.
The next city council meeting is on Tuesday, October. 6 at 6 p.m. at Brighton City Hall on South 4th Avenue.
