SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Several City Council members and concerned residents want to hit pause on the future development of data centers in San Antonio, at least for now. <\/p>\n
District 6 councilman Ric Galvan, District 5 councilwoman Teri Castillo, and District 8 councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez all signed a memo Wednesday to force a vote on a data center moratorium. Their memo requests a meeting by Aug. 31. <\/p>\n
The council members want the ordinance to establish a temporary moratorium on all applications for concept plans, site development plans and permits for data centers or \u201coffice data processing and management\u201d as defined in the City of San Antonio Unified Development Code. <\/p>\n
The goal of the moratorium, Galvan said at a Friday morning news conference in front of City Hall, is to give time to get local regulation on the books and allow the state legislature to meet and address concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, for the next 90 to 180 days, until we can ensure that this industry does not damage our environment, it creates local benefits for the community, is built by union labor, and does not raise our residents\u2019 bills. I say no new data centers here in San Antonio,\u201d Galvan said.<\/p>\n
Galvan said his district has the highest concentration of data centers in San Antonio and Bexar County.<\/p>\n
He and other council members have previously discussed possible regulation<\/a>, such as zoning. However, a spokeswoman for the city\u2019s Development Services Department said they are still holding stakeholder meetings, and nothing has been officially proposed.<\/p>\n