The Desert Hot Spring City Council this month voted unanimously to extend its urgency moratorium on data centers by 22 months and 15 days, bringing the total time to two years.
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“Data centers can generate significant electrical demand, require extensive utility infrastructure, cooling systems, backup power generation and may create concerns related to land use compatibility, public safety, environmental impacts, water consumption and infrastructure capacity,” City Manager Doria Wilms said at the July 7 meeting. “Because the city does not yet have a regulatory framework specifically addressing these uses, the proposed extension of the moratorium would allow more time for the council and staff to evaluate and develop comprehensive regulations.”
The council first enacted the temporary moratorium at its June 16 meeting and also directed staff to come back with an ordinance to extend it to the maximum length allowed by law.
As part of the extension, the city will continue to prohibit the acceptance, processing and approval of permits or other entitlements for new data centers and similar high-intensity computing uses.
The city’s municipal code does not include a definition for “high-intensity computing uses,” but defines data centers as “industrial buildings containing floor space that houses computer mainframes, servers and IT equipment primarily for the purpose of storing data and distributing data stored on site.”
“It is not just about being against technology or economic development,” Councilmember Daniel Pitts said of his support for the extended moratorium. “It’s about making sure we get it right before allowing a new land use that can have significant long-term impacts on our community.”
The council, at the recommendation of Mayor Scott Matas, also directed staff to use the extension to conduct a study on the potential impacts of data centers and other high-intensity computing uses in the city.
“I know I’m the lone person up here, for the most part, thinking differently,” he said, noting that he felt the situation didn’t require an urgency ordinance since the city had neither received applications for data centers nor conducted a study on the potential impacts. “I respect my colleagues for their opinions, I just think it’s a little backwards.”
And while Mayor Pro Tem Dirk Voss, who made the initial motion, and Councilmember Gary Gardner said they didn’t feel it necessary to include direction to the staff since they felt the council had been pretty clear about its intent, Councilmember Jan Pye said she could not support the extension without clear next steps for city staff.
“I think we need to do it in a motion, so we’re directing staff, and the audience knows what we’re doing,” she said.
The motion came after the council heard from a handful of speakers, most who advocated not just for the extension of the moratorium, but also called for a full ban on data centers in the city.
“Data centers are the clearest expression of raw corporate scale,” Jeff Dickman, a Desert Hot Springs resident, said. “They arrive marketed as a neighbor, but they operate with the leverage of a giant.
“A [moratorium] isn’t obstruction, it is breathing room,” he continued. “It protects our civic balance, while we decide on our own terms if and how we want to engage.”
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