San Jose, California: Mayor and Council Members Propose a Pause on Data Center Approvals

SAN JOSE, California. San Jose leaders moved on Thursday to stop any new data center from winning approval before the city sets strict rules for the industry.

Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilmembers Pamela Campos, David Cohen, Peter Ortiz and Domingo Candelas announced a proposal to halt land use approvals for data centers and other large energy use projects. The pause would stay in place until the City Council votes on uniform development standards and community benefit requirements. That vote is scheduled for Dec. 8.

A Google project in Alviso drove the timing

The proposal follows reporting by San Jose Spotlight that a Google data center planned in Alviso could win approval before the standards are adopted. The project, at 5087 Disk Drive, would require 250 megawatts, enough to power 250,000 households, according to experts cited by Spotlight.

Under the current process, a data center can be approved administratively at a Planning Director hearing without a City Council vote, unless the approval is appealed to the council. "We will not consider any project until we have the strongest possible regulations not just approved, but implemented," the leaders said in a statement carried by CBS News San Francisco. Mahan told Spotlight the city is preparing to vote on what he called the strictest proposed regulations for data centers in the country, and that none of that work matters if projects slip through just before the standards are adopted.

What the standards would require

The proposed standards call for 100 percent clean energy, closed loop water systems, union labor, monitoring and enforcement of noise restrictions, and bans on nondisclosure agreements and any public subsidy, Mahan told Spotlight. CBS News San Francisco reported the standards would require 100 percent carbon neutral electricity, bar open loop cooling that uses drinking water, require the cleanest backup generators, and add a skilled and trained workforce requirement and a prevailing wage requirement.

Diesel backup generators would have to meet the strictest federal emission standards and could run only during power outages, Spotlight reported. Developers would be encouraged to enroll with San Jose Clean Energy, which supplies renewable power.

The leaders also propose an urgency ordinance so the standards take effect at once after the Dec. 8 vote, CBS reported.

Residents and advocates want a longer stop

Residents have pressed the city for months to impose a moratorium before any standards are set. Linda Hutchins-Knowles, co-founder of the environmental nonprofit Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, told Spotlight she welcomes a pause now but wants it to last longer than the current timeline. She said the city's community engagement process was rushed and insufficient.

Eight environmental and advocate groups, including Green Foothills, the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter and Alviso in Action, asked the city to consult state and county agencies and study the combined effect of the data center projects in the development pipeline. Advocates put that pipeline at 16 projects, Spotlight reported. Officials said last month that 11 applications for data centers were under review in San Jose, CBS reported.

The road to Dec. 8

San Jose began drafting the standards in June. Mahan said the city has not approved any new data centers since that work began. Planning Director Chris Burton, in a Nov. 6 memo, said the city must strike a balance between securing economic development and ensuring that growth is responsibly built.

Ortiz, who represents District 5 in East San Jose, told Spotlight the pause is not about stopping development. He said it is about responsible standards, protecting communities, and making sure industries that benefit from city resources also help address challenges such as affordability.

The Planning Commission will consider the latest version of the standards on Nov. 18. The council vote follows on Dec. 8.