Monterey Park takes landmark vote on banning data centers

Residents within the metropolis of Monterey Park would be the first within the nation to vote on a everlasting ban on data centers Tuesday.

If authorized, Measure NDC would prohibit data centers inside the metropolis limits and will solely be overturned by one other vote.

Yard indicators saying “No Data Middle” in English and Chinese language with pictures of dragons line sidewalks within the San Gabriel Valley metropolis.

As a wave of data middle opposition sweeps the nation, quite a few cities and counties throughout the U.S. have instituted short-term moratoria and different restrictions on the amenities. However solely a handful have instituted indefinite bans, and simply 4 different cities have despatched associated issues to the poll.

Supporters are hoping the vote will set a precedent for the remainder of the area, the place residents are preventing proposals in Vernon and Metropolis of Trade.

“That is about as everlasting a ban as we are able to get,” mentioned Steven Kung, co-founder of the group No Data Middle Monterey Park. “Profitable Measure NDC would ship an enormous message to the remainder of the San Gabriel Valley about how residents don’t need data centers.”

The poll measure emerged from the struggle in opposition to a 247,000-square-foot middle proposed in 2024 by the Australian-owned funding agency HMC StratCap for a residential space in Monterey Park.

The power would have sat lower than 500 ft away from the closest house and used thrice the electrical energy of the 60,000-person, predominantly Asian American metropolis.

Whereas the developer touted the potential for jobs and tax income, residents expressed issues about noise and air air pollution, rising electrical energy charges and a possible to decrease property values.

The corporate pulled its plans in late March following public outcry and a March 4 metropolis council vote to increase a brief data middle moratorium and place a ban on Tuesday’s poll.

In a letter to the town council, HMC StratCap mentioned it could pursue a special use for the land and wouldn’t have interaction in a poll measure struggle.

Town council later banned data centers indefinitely, the primary in California to take action, mentioned Mayor Elizabeth Yang. However she’s nonetheless been out campaigning for the measure with all 4 different council members.

“If a council places in an ordinance, a future council can reverse it too,” mentioned Yang. “With the poll measure, unbanning it’s a lot tougher since you want all the metropolis to vote on it.”

The measure proposes the ban “to guard air high quality, ingesting water sources, and public well being” and “stop impacts to electrical energy and water charges.”

Whereas California locations third within the nation for present data centers with about 300 amenities, it hasn’t been a sizzling spot within the current AI-driven data middle increase. Excessive electrical energy charges, costly land and regulatory hurdles imply that fewer, and smaller, amenities are presently deliberate than in Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Illinois or Arizona.

“Most of California’s data centers are small by in the present day’s requirements,” mentioned Shaolei Ren, an engineering professor at UC Riverside who research the best way to scale back the environmental impacts of data centers. “Ten years in the past, they might be medium-sized, however the energy demand for brand spanking new AI data centers has elevated lots.”

The typical working data middle calls for 45 megawatts, in response to the Washington Submit, whereas the typical deliberate one would draw 430 MW. The one proposed for Monterey Park would have required about 50 MW at peak demand.

As proposals crop up in SoCal, they’re met with fierce opposition. Montebello, El Monte and Baldwin Park have all enacted short-term moratoria, and Alhambra lately banned data centers as a part of a zoning code replace. Metropolis of Trade, Vernon, Metropolis of Commerce and Santa Fe Springs are transferring within the different route, making an attempt to courtroom builders and streamline data middle approvals. Neighborhood teams are preventing that.

Exterior the San Gabriel Valley, residents of Coachella and Imperial County are displaying up in droves to protest native proposals.

Matthew Shaw, a volunteer with the Coalition for Accountable Data Middle Growth, who lately revealed a report on opposition to AI data centers, mentioned a vote to ban them in Monterey Park “would result in copycats, partially as a result of so many teams are simply against any data middle growth in any respect.”

Whereas there isn’t any formal opposition to Measure NDC, some constructing trades like Ironworker Native 433 supported the Monterey Park data middle when it was nonetheless dwell earlier than metropolis council. These within the data middle trade are lamenting the state of public opinion.

“These are multi-billion-dollar belongings which are constructed by multi-trillion-dollar corporations. These items will get completed,” mentioned Mehdi Paryavi, chairman of the Worldwide Data Middle Authority. “My greatest downside is that our trade doesn’t make investments sufficient in group engagement.”

Paryavi mentioned cities that search to restrict data centers are lacking out on hundreds of jobs generated by data middle building, operations and clients, in addition to sooner synthetic intelligence speeds and higher efficiency.

Kung mentioned area people organizers are “trying on the empirical proof” and seeing a ban as a win.

“We’ve by no means seen a metropolis that embraces a data middle and is like, ‘Look how our high quality of life has elevated, look how all of the income has gone into citywide enhancements,’” he mentioned. “That simply doesn’t exist.”