Data center developers interested in San Gabriel Valley’s Monterey Park should look elsewhere, as the city has become the first in the nation to officially ban data centers amid mounting opposition to the power- and water-hungry facilities across the country.
More than 86 percent of voters in Monterey Park voted to permanently ban data centers in Tuesday’s election, with more votes continuing to roll in, Bisnow reported. Under the ban, known as Measure NDC, no such computing facilities can be built within city limits. Local leaders don’t have much power in overturning the law themselves, as only another citywide vote can overturn the measure.
Californians across the San Gabriel Valley have been increasingly expressing their distaste for data centers. Monterey Park in particular has seen residents circle the wagons as developers eye the city for future projects. Australian asset management company HMC Capital proposed erecting a 250,000-square-foot data center in the city, but the firm has since backed off, withdrawing its project application in April, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.
The approval of Measure NDC codifies a moratorium on new data center projects that has been in effect in the city since late January. Increasing opposition among the enclave’s roughly 62,000 residents prompted city officials to put the ban before voters on the June 2 primary ballot.
California is hardly the first state to see resistance to data center development. In Utah last month, the Box Elder County Commission approved a massive data center project backed by “Shark Tank” star and investor Kevin O’Leary that, when complete, will be twice the size of Manhattan and use more electricity than the entire state of Utah currently uses. At that commission meeting, locals approached the microphone to express their opposition and displayed posters calling on O’Leary to stand down.
Georgia, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont have introduced statewide moratoriums on new data center developments, while seven others introduced bans that ultimately didn’t pass. In April, Maine’s state legislature passed a bill that would have enacted the nation’s first statewide moratorium on large data centers, but Democratic Gov. and short-lived Senate candidate Janet Mills vetoed the legislation.— Chris Malone Méndez
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