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Orange County board refers zoning text amendment to remove 'by‑right' status for data centers after wide public concern
Summary
The board voted 5–0 to refer a zoning text amendment that would remove data centers as a by‑right use to the Planning Commission for public hearing and recommendation; public commenters urged quick action, raised water, farmland and transparency worries, and asked for monitoring and decommissioning plans.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to initiate a zoning text amendment to remove data centers as a by‑right use in the county and referred the measure to the Planning Commission for public hearing and recommendation.
The chair described the resolution as a step to align the county’s ordinance with recently established Technology District provisions and said the Planning Commission would hold a public hearing and return a recommendation to the board. A board member urged the commission to take up the matter at its first meeting on Feb. 5 and to “scrub every piece of ordinance” to remove any by‑right allowance for data centers; Supervisor Coleman said the action would help “protect our county from by‑right data center developments.” The board then voted by roll call, 5–0, to refer the amendment.
The referral followed an extended public comment period in which seven speakers urged restrictions or a moratorium on data centers and raised several recurrent concerns: potential groundwater and well impacts, the need for mandatory monitoring and reporting of water use and contaminants, enforceable decommissioning plans, transparency around nondisclosure agreements and tax incentives, and protection of farmland and the county’s rural character. Public commenters included local farmers, small business owners and residents:
• Marsha/Marshall Landau, who said she grew up on a farm and urged the board to “put a rush on the by right revision before this rural county is gone forever.”
• Stella Bradford asked the board to revisit policies protecting farmland and neighborhoods, warned that wells are already running dry in parts of the county and urged strict regulation and monitoring of data‑center water use and contaminants.
• Bonnie Finchem said mandatory monitoring and reporting of water usage and contaminants had been discussed previously and recommended such measures be reinstated; she also called for enforceable decommissioning plans and transparency when companies negotiate with the county.
Speakers also raised economic and land‑use alternatives, including tourism and use of the old courthouse as a venue. A member of the IT industry, Robert Polakovsky, told the board he is not anti‑technology but warned that new platforms drive resource demand and urged the county to retain control over land‑use decisions.
The board’s referral does not change the code yet; it simply initiates a formal amendment process. The Planning Commission will schedule a public hearing, vet ordinance language and return a recommendation to the board, which will then hold its own public hearing before taking a final vote.
Next steps announced at the meeting include Planning Commission consideration (first meeting Feb. 5) and subsequent public hearings before the board. The meeting record does not include technical monitoring requirements, decommissioning language or a timeline for final adoption; those details would be developed during the public‑hearing process.
