Norman council signals intent to pursue temporary moratorium on data centers

The Norman City Council moved toward pursuing a temporary moratorium on new data centers, directing staff to prepare an item for the council’s June 9 meeting so members can consider moratorium language and related zoning changes.

Council debate focused on how much water and power data centers consume, whether such facilities would produce local jobs or meaningful tax revenue, and whether current I2 zoning would allow data centers to be built by-right. Director Mattingly told the council that a full build-out example could demand about “8.1 million gallons a day,” roughly 3 billion gallons per year — a figure Mattingly compared directly with the city’s current annual withdrawals of about 3.08 billion gallons.

Why it matters: councilors said the potential scale of water use and electric demand could strain local infrastructure and leave limited ability for the city to manage siting if data centers are allowed by-right in I2 zones. Councilor Bruce argued data centers would not produce many jobs but could raise costs for residents and urged the city to block them: “I say Norman should be different…Let’s say no data centers,” he said. The city attorney cautioned that a total ban could risk state preemption or a takings challenge and recommended a temporary moratorium while staff drafts targeted code changes.

What councilors want staff to study: the council asked staff to examine water-supply options (including buying more water from Oklahoma City, the feasibility of selling effluent for cooling, and implications for river flows); regulatory permits tied to wells and allocations (the Water Resources Board was cited as the permitting authority); DEQ rules on effluent temperature and discharge; and the applicability of special-use or zoning qualifiers that would require data centers to return to council for review.

Zoning mechanics and timing: staff explained that because data centers are not explicitly prohibited under the city’s I2 industrial zoning, a sufficiently assembled parcel in I2 could be developed by-right without planning commission or council review. That gap is a primary rationale for the moratorium: a temporary halt would buy time to decide whether to make data centers a special use, add qualifiers, or impose other restrictions. Council members discussed moratorium lengths from 30 days to a year; several voiced support for a one-year moratorium to give staff time to draft standards and research technical constraints.

Next steps: staff will prepare a moratorium ordinance and related ordinance amendments for the June 9 council agenda; no formal vote occurred at the May 26 conference. The council asked that staff return with research and proposed language addressing water use, effluent handling (including PFAS concerns), electric-grid impacts and possible franchise-fee arrangements, and zoning options that would require council review for new data-center projects.