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Longmont council narrows hyperscale data center rules, adds verification and size guardrails
Summary
Longmont City Council amended an ordinance on hyperscale data centers to require Longmont Power & Communications (LPC) verification of applicants' projected peak electrical demand and to bar projects or phased expansions that would push operations past the adopted thresholds; council directed staff to codify verification and a regional threshold tied to PRPA capacity.
Longmont’s City Council voted May 19 to tighten a proposed ordinance addressing hyperscale data centers after councilors pressed for stronger verification and limits on staged growth.
Council members adopted three amendments to Ordinance 2026-34 during the consent agenda discussion. The first requires Longmont Power and Communications (LPC) — or its designee — to verify applicant information used to calculate projected peak electrical demand. Council member Marcin said the change was intended to avoid accepting an applicant’s self-reported numbers without an independent technical check: "trust but verify," he said.
The second amendment bars approval of any expansion, modification, additional phase or utility service that would cause a data center, campus or aggregated operation to meet or exceed 100 megawatts of projected peak electrical demand. The third ties the threshold to regional supply by defining hyperscale as either 5% of the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) nameplate capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower; the council adopted that approach to scale the rule to the broader supply system.
LPC staff and other city officials told the council that physical and regional constraints already limit the city’s ability to serve very large, immediate loads. Daryl Hahn, who spoke for LPC during the discussion, summarized the technical constraints: "There are some just physical limitations in terms of how much load we can serve," and serving very large customers would require conversations with PRPA and possible infrastructure changes.
Some councilors pushed back on each change, arguing the city already has protections and that blanket limits could be premature. Council member Christ repeatedly said she wanted more study and cautioned that current physical limits in substations may already prevent 100-megawatt projects, making some restrictions unnecessary now. Nonetheless, each amendment passed by recorded votes; council reported 5–1 votes on the amendments and on final approval of the consent item, with Council member Christ the lone dissenter and Council member Prieto absent.
What happens next: The ordinance as amended will be reflected in the council record and come back as required under the city’s ordinance process (the second reading and public hearing for ordinances introduced on this consent agenda is scheduled for 06/09/2026). Staff will codify the LPC verification steps and the threshold language in the ordinance text for subsequent readings.
Council members said the goal is to create a durable, flexible code that prevents piecemeal projects from expanding gradually past a defined threshold while allowing staff, LPC and PRPA to work through technical and permitting details.
