Coachella City Council Approves Ordinance Banning Data Centers

Applause broke out in the Coachella City Council chambers after the council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance banning data centers with Mayor Pro Tem Yadira Perez participating remotely due to an illness.

“We’re fixing what we created, and at the end of the day, it’s because of our own voting mechanism that we voted on items and [we’re] taking ownership over it that we didn’t get [it right],” Mayor Frank Figueroa said moments before the August 12 vote. “We voted for a municipal [utility agreement] that included a data center as the primary [reason for] generating electricity.”

The ordinance, as approved, will creates a new chapter in the city’s municipal code specifically addressing data centers and banning them in all zoning districts. Incidental accessory server rooms and information technology facilities associated with an otherwise permitted principal business use are exempt from the policy.

The ordinance also establishes a clear definition for data centers, creates enforcement provisions and implements a land use approach consistent with the city’s long-term planning objectives, Community Development Director Kendra Reif said.

“Staff evaluated the potential impacts associated with data centers and their compatibility with the city’s long-term objectives,” Reif said. “Based upon that review, staff determined that data centers are not compatible with several important city priorities.”

Those priorities included the city’s long-term planning objectives, infrastructure planning, public health, safety and welfare, environmental sustainability and economic development goals and the overall vision for the community.

Reif said concerns raised by city staff included water resources, electrical resources and infrastructure, potential impacts to public health and safety and land use compatibility.

“Staff’s review determined that data centers can consume substantial utility and infrastructure capacity, require significant amounts of land, and generate relatively fewer permanent jobs when compared with their land and infrastructure demands,” she said. “The city’s policy objective is to preserve its industrial land and employment lands for uses that can provide greater job creation, workforce development, economic diversification and broader community benefits.”

Reif said the ordinance also supported several policies within the city’s land use element, ongoing resource conservation efforts and fiscal sustainability goals. She also noted that changes had been made to further strengthen the ordinance at the suggestion of community members and in consultation with the city attorney.

“We had big speeches ready to talk about these changes that you [have] implemented,” Loretta Perez, a Coachella resident, said. “Listening to us was huge. This was a huge win today. As I stood here with all of the residents in the back, we were just talking about, ‘Wow, this actually happened. They actually listened to us.’ And I truly feel that we are seeing a turnaround on the way that we’re going to run our city from now on.”

Perez was just one of nearly two dozen speakers at the meeting, all in support of the ban, and many who used their time to thank the community organizers for their tireless efforts and the council for listening and taking action.

“I want to recognize the residents and all the compañeros for staying loud on community priorities, and also want to thank the city council and city staff for listening to [the] community and taking [active] steps,” Luz Gallegos, executive director of TODEC, said. “You have an opportunity to amend the previous actions that got us here today, and really show your values, commitment, and loyalty to Coachella residents.”

Other speakers included people from surrounding communities who highlighted the widespread impacts a large-scale data center would have on the entire region and USC professor, Juan De Lara, whose family still lives in Coachella, who spoke about the long history and impacts of environmental racism on the community and the opportunity to do better.

“I think that it’s important to recognize that to some people, the Eastern Coachella Valley, Coachella included, is seen as a dumping ground for things that they do not want on the west side,” De Lara said. “And I think it’s important to recognize that context when you’re looking forward to thinking about the kind of development opportunities that are on the horizon in the future.

“And I think it’s an opportunity to also to engage the tremendous amount of public involvement and the young people in this community who want something different, who want sustainable development, who want development that’s going to benefit them and not outside companies that are going to profit on making the Coachella Valley and the city of Coachella into a sacrifice zone.”

The ordinance is set to come back before the council later this month for final adoption and will go into effect 30 days later. Figueroa also asked staff to look into the cost, timeline and process for putting the ordinance in front of the voters as a ballot measure to ensure it cannot be repealed at the whim of a future council.

“Like a lot of people said, la lucha sigue, and it’s not over until we enshrine the data center ban by the voters, so that no one else [who] sits on these chairs, whoever gets elected, can go back and just in the snap of a finger say, ‘We’re not going to do this anymore, and we’re going to let data centers come.’”