The city held an open house on June 30 with proposals<\/a> for ways to regulate data center land use, water use, noise pollution, and economic development incentives. Those proposals were first presented<\/a> during a Fort Worth City Council work session meeting in June.<\/p>\n Several residents who attended said the open house event was helpful, while others described the city\u2019s efforts as \u201chalf-measures.\u201d<\/p>\n During the Zoning Commission meeting on July 8<\/a>, commissioner Jacob Wurman remarked that the city\u2019s push to approve the new rules by the Aug. 11 council meeting felt rushed.<\/p>\n Commissioners weighed voting to continue the item, but some said that delaying a vote would impact the city\u2019s timeline \u2014 the Fort Worth City Council is expected to take up all of the proposed regulations at its meeting on Aug. 11.<\/p>\n The council members, in their letter, agreed with Wurman\u2019s sentiment, stating they were supporting a moratorium to get the new rules right.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the leadership our residents deserve, and it is the commitment we share,\u201d the council members said in their letter.<\/p>\n Two city council members said they were not approached by the council members who signed the proposal to ask if they would like to participate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first I\u2019m hearing of any Council proposal on this,\u201d District 4 council member Charlie Lauersdorf wrote in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m disappointed that the rest of Council was not even asked whether we wanted the opportunity to sign on. I was never contacted by any of the other signers, which makes me question whether this is truly important to them or if this is more about making a statement. They all know how to reach me, just like they know how to reach the others who were left out of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n District 3 council member Michael Crain said that he would have been open to discussing the proposal for a moratorium \u2014 but the council members who wrote it did not give him the chance to do so.<\/p>\n Crain said that he first heard about the proposal roughly two hours before it was released around 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 4:36 PM.<\/p>\n