Fresno is moving forward with a ban on developing data centers.
The Fresno City Council unanimously voted Thursday to direct city staff to return with a text amendment that would specifically ban data centers from being built for the next 10 years.
Driving the news: Data centers are currently not listed as a permitted use in any zoning areas under city code, but they have become a hot-button issue on social media, leading Councilman Nick Richardson to bring a policy forward to ban them for 10 years.
The big picture: City staff will return with a text amendment that clearly defines data centers and will prohibit them after 10 years, unless the council at the time chooses otherwise.
The council added to the initial proposal to direct the text amendment to apply to land that is currently in Fresno or becomes part of the city in the future. The proposal will also require the council to be immediately notified if the city ever has a data center use application.
What we’re watching: City staff could have the text amendment ready to go in a few months, but Planning Director Jennifer Clark said the work could take up to one year.
What they’re saying: Richardson said he has been very dedicated when it comes to the affect decisions have on business during his time on the council, and that the intent with his proposal is not to cripple or deter business.
“I think that having this conversation about data centers, which has arisen as this sort of spectre, is getting in the way of businesses moving or developing in Fresno,” Richardson said. “This should make a lot of those conversations more objective, more emotion free, more fact based. And instead of ‘Hey, I’d like to build a medical center over here,’ and someone insinuating that it’s to build a data center, this gets rid of that conversation.”
Richardson added that conversations surrounding the Southeast Development Area (SEDA) plan can continue without any fear of data centers being involved.