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Commissioners say Cameron County not yet ready for major data centers; solicitor drafting ordinance

Cameron County Board of Commissioners · April 2, 2026

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Summary

After attending a webinar, commissioners concluded Cameron County lacks required infrastructure for major data centers (reliable high-availability power and fiber) and directed the solicitor to finalize an ordinance draft for public review and town-hall discussion.

Commissioners on April 2 said Cameron County is not currently equipped with the infrastructure needed to attract large-scale data centers and urged staff to continue preparing regulatory guidance.

Chair Jessica (S1) summarized takeaways from a Lehigh Valley College webinar and related planning discussions, saying data centers require extremely high availability and connectivity: "for a data center to be anywhere, they gave us a list of everything that it has to have... a data center has to have 99.99999% guaranteed energy 100% of the time," S1 said. She added that Cameron County "isn't there yet infrastructure wise" for fiber and the other prerequisites data centers need.

Commissioner James (S2) emphasized that there are currently no data-center projects in Cameron County and that public miscommunication about such projects has circulated in the region. The county’s solicitor (Tom) has been asked to incorporate initial feedback from the Industrial Development Authority, Conservation District and planning commission into an ordinance update; the draft is expected to be released for town-hall and public review in the coming weeks.

Commissioners also described a GIS mapping tool being developed with MCM to visualize ordinance impacts (separate tabs for wind, data centers and solar/tower heights) to help regulators and the public assess project footprints.

Next steps: the solicitor will circulate an ordinance draft for local review and a town-hall process will be scheduled to gather public input prior to formal adoption.