COACHELLA, CA — The Coachella City Council adopted an ordinance that permanently banned data centers in the city, with the ordinance set to take effect in 30 days, and as of Thursday is the only city in the Valley to do so.
In a City Council meeting Wednesday afternoon, councilmembers unanimously voted to prohibit data centers city wide.
However, "accessory server rooms, data processing equipment or information technology facilities" — an accessory space containing computer servers, data storage equipment, network switching equipment and telecommunications equipment — would be exempt, according to a staff report.
Coachella became the first city in the Coachella Valley to enact a permanent prohibition on data centers.
The item comes after months of public scrutiny from community members throughout the region in the wake of the council's decision to approve an agreement with Stronghold Power Systems Inc. to develop a proposed large-scale data center earlier this year.
The project, dubbed the Coachella Valley Technology Campus, was to be built near the intersection of Fillmore Street and Avenue 52 on more than 240 acres of agricultural land and was expected to include at least three data center buildings and related infrastructure before it was halted.
On June 4, council members voted to adopt a 45-day moratorium and its agreement with the project's developer was canceled. Many people voiced their concerns to city leaders about the potential negative impacts of data centers, including water- and energy-use and alleged public health problems.
Other cities in the region, including Indio, Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs, have taken actions to temporarily block data center developments.
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