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Residents urge council to pause new data‑center permits over water and environmental concerns
Summary
Climate and neighborhood advocates asked the City Council to adopt a temporary pause on new data‑center permits until the city can craft permitting standards addressing energy, water and environmental impacts; speakers cited a recent planning commission resolution recommending a pause.
Two speakers during the public‑comment period on Feb. 12 urged the Reno City Council to pause data‑center permitting while the city revises local rules to address energy use, water consumption and environmental impacts.
Robin Palmer, who identified herself as a climate and community advocate, told the council that an administrative decision in the Reno Municipal Code gives little guidance to the planning commission when it reviews data‑center permits and that the planning commission had passed a resolution recommending a temporary pause until permitting requirements can be developed to account for environmental effects, including water and energy consumption.
Nancy Ann Leeder, who said she lives in Ward 4, supported Palmer’s request and urged the council to distinguish data‑center uses from traditional warehouses in local code. Leeder cited Nevada Revised Statutes language about warehouses that addresses truck movements and noise and said treating data centers as typical warehouses failed to capture their unique water and energy demands. She said a single data center could use water equivalent to “30,000 to 40,000 houses,” a figure she reported during public comment.
Why it matters: Councilmembers have referred similar permitting and land‑use questions to staff before. Speakers requested a pause so staff and the planning commission could develop permitting criteria that reflect local resource constraints and the community’s housing needs.
Council action: At the Feb. 12 meeting no ordinance or moratorium was introduced; speakers asked the council to consider the planning commission’s resolution and directed staff to return with options for permitting standards or a temporary pause.
Speakers cited the planning commission’s recent vote as the proximate cause for the request; the council asked staff to review the planning commission’s resolution and bring options back during the appropriate code‑update process.
