PERRIS, CA — The Perris City Council's unanimous vote to ban data centers in Perris culminated in cheers Tuesday night, making it the first city to implement such a ban in Southwest Riverside County.
The Perris City Council voted 5-0 to ban data centers within the city limits, a follow-up to a ban initiated by the council in June, which directed planning staff to draft an ordinance. On Sept. 16, the ban was also endorsed by the planning commission.
Perris is now the fourth city in California to ban data centers.
A data center is a physical facility that houses powerful computers and equipment used to store, process and deliver digital information, including artificial intelligence. They centers keep the internet and many of the online services people use every day running.
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There have not been any data centers proposed in Perris, but the increase in warehouses within city limits has been a point of contention for many residents who voiced concerns during the city council meeting about water and electricity consumption, and higher utility bills linked to data centers.
"I think it's great to thank you for not proceeding with the data center. It is our livelihoods. Like me and many others, we go to work everyday. Last thing we want to come back to is that noise of a data center, worse water, more bills to pay. It just gets everybody frustrated," said Christian Sandoval who spoke during the meeting Tuesday night.
"We'd rather be a in great community. We're not a large community but we can grow to be a larger community if we're not always being weighed down by certain things like Flock cameras or these data centers that don't support the community in any way other than making everyone feel like we're imprisoned," he added.
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Elsewhere in Riverside County, Coachella is the only other city to implement a ban on data centers, but the trend has been picking up steam in California with Calexico, Monterey Park, and Oakley voting against data center within the city limits.
Data center moratoriums are currently in effect in several Riverside County cities, including Lake Elsinore, Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs and Indio.
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Councilmember Elizabeth Vallejo said the city's ban will close any loopholes, and the community's involvement played an important role in pushing back against the data centers.
"I would like to thank everyone that's here and really the young people because you guys are making a big example of how you guys can combine together and do something that's right for the city," she said on Tuesday.
"To me, this is also obviously a no-brainer that we all came together as a council, the planning commission, and staff, for really making sure that we have all the wording to make sure that no billionaires, or no one comes and does any loopholes, so this is supposed to close all the loopholes," she added.
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