{"id":451873,"date":"2026-09-03T05:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T05:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/451873\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T05:34:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T05:34:24","slug":"mayor-says-data-centers-not-allowed-in-fresno-so-why-is-city-mulling-10-year-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/451873\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor says data centers not allowed in Fresno. So why is city mulling 10-year ban?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series<\/a> holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amid growing nationwide concerns over water-intensive data centers, Fresno city officials will consider a proposed 10-year ban on data centers.<\/p>\n

Fresno City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on the resolution<\/a>, sponsored by Councilmember Nick Richardson. The resolution would amend the city’s development code to “affirmatively prohibit data centers within the City of Fresno so that they cannot be allowed pursuant to a Director’s determination.”<\/p>\n

Richardson couldn’t be immediately reached for comment Wednesday morning. In an interview with nonprofit news site Fresnoland, Richardson said the resolution is meant to close a loophole<\/a> in the city code that gives the planning director “discretion” to allow for the construction of data centers.<\/p>\n

“There is a portion in there [in the city’s planning codebook] that says at the planning director’s discretion, the planning director can decide to allow a use that is not otherwise used,” he said.<\/p>\n

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer was announced as a co-sponsor of the item Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

“We must make thoughtful decisions about how we use our limited land, water, and energy resources, and those decisions must provide the greatest possible benefit to Fresno residents,” Dyer said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Data centers are a physical rooms, buildings or facilities that house IT infrastructure for building, running and delivering applications and services, according to global tech company IBM.<\/p>\n

Communities across the country are growing concerned about the presence of data centers due to the energy and water required for cooling. According to a report by Washington D.C.-based Environmental and Energy Study Institute, large data centers can consume up to five million gallons of water per day<\/a>, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.<\/p>\n

Richardson told Fresnoland his ban stems from concerns over their demands on water.<\/p>\n

“I have never thought that having one here in the valley is a good idea, primarily based on hard access to water,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

Fresno City Council member Nick Richardson is seen during a council meeting Thursday, July 30, 2026 in downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n

He’s not the only city official raising questions about data centers.<\/p>\n

Concerns are growing that the Southeast Development Area Plan \u2014 a proposed mega-development in southeast Fresno that would zone hundreds of acres of land for “flexible research and advanced manufacturing<\/a>” \u2014 could pave the way for more data centers in Fresno.<\/p>\n

“The fact is, it’s not about advanced research; it’s about data centers,” District 3 Councilmember Miguel Arias said in an Aug. 19 Planning Commission meeting on SEDA. “We know it, you know it; there is no other demand.”<\/p>\n

Planning Director Jennifer Clark responded that the development of data centers is not currently allowed in Fresno.<\/a><\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, Dyer issued a two-page statement saying he opposed data centers in the city and that “they are not an appropriate land use for the City of Fresno under current technologies and are not allowed within city limits.” He echoed Clark’s comments and said the city’s planning director “is already developing the appropriate regulations that would define and prohibit data centers within City Limits.”<\/p>\n

“Recent speculation about potential data center projects, particularly in the Southeast Development Area (SEDA), has raised public interest on this topic,” Dyer’s statement said.<\/p>\n

“It is important to understand that data centers are not permitted anywhere in the City of Fresno, and pending approval of the SEDA Specific Plan, the next step would include adopting a new Development Code for that area. City staff is already drafting that code to prohibit data centers, ensuring Fresno’s long-term land use and resource priorities are protected,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

Texas and Virginia lead the country in the number of operating and planned data centers<\/a>, with California in third place, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n

A study prepared earlier this year<\/a> by the University of Pennsylvania for Next 10, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving California’s future, has suggested that the Fresno and Central Valley region could be transformed into “viable computational hubs” due to the region’s solar energy potential and infrastructure initiatives such as <\/a>California’s Middle Mile Broadband Initiative<\/a>, a multi-billion-dollar state initiative to build fiber optic infrastructure and expand internet access in disadvantaged communities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Data centers in the Central Valley<\/p>\n

In recent months, there has been increased scrutiny on AI centers in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n

In September 2025, Ameresco, Inc. announced plans to construct a 100 megawatt AI-optimized data center to offer language model training, real-time analytics and other systems to the Naval Air Station Lemoore base, according to a report by SJV Water. Other centers are also planned in Kern County.<\/a><\/p>\n

In nearby Tulare County, the Board of Supervisors approved last month a temporary moratorium on data center development<\/a> after public pushback to a proposal on county fairgrounds. Residents and public officials are calling for a <\/a>permanent ban.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Residents<\/p>\n

Residents concerned about proposed AI data centers wait to speak at the Tulare County Fair Board meeting.<\/p>\n

There are also questions about whether the High Speed Rail could bring data centers to the Central Valley as the High Speed Rail Authority is working with private investors who could help develop the train’s corridor as well as a utility-grade power generation system.<\/a><\/p>\n

In June, rail authority board members cautioned staff about shaping a deal with private investors that overwhelmingly depends on data centers. They also suggested ample public discussions are necessary before a decision is made on a deal that includes them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74655,53525,112,3879,8019,114,113,142027],"class_list":["post-451873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-city-limits","tag-dyer","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-bee","tag-fresno-city-council","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-richardson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}