Committee advances data-center standards after residents urge pause and stronger outreach

The Rules and Open Government Committee on Tuesday returned a staff memo with analysis on proposed data-center standards and directed staff to continue developing the standards with public outreach, voting 5-0 to advance the item.

The action followed public comment urging a pause on in-progress proposals so community input can shape the standards. Dasha Leeds, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta chapter, told the committee: “The city is currently barreling forward with data center project proposals without adequate community notice or engagement. The city should restore the trust that it has broken by pausing the in-progress development proposals to allow time for these standards to finish first.”

Deputy City Manager Manuel Pineda, who answered questions from the committee, said individual projects will continue to undergo required environmental review. “Each individual project, as they have in the past, will continue to have its own process that requires environmental analysis,” Pineda said, adding staff expects to return the completed standards to full council by December of this year.

Committee members probed how projects already in the pipeline will be treated while the standards are developed. One commenter representing Alviso expressed concern that data-center proposals are being streamlined without clear public disclosure of water and energy use. Alina, a speaker during open forum, said a petition at ilovesanjose.org had “over 2,200 people” asking for a public study session on cumulative health impacts and asserted the new Microsoft data center would include “224 natural gas generators.” That figure was presented as the commenter’s claim; staff did not confirm that number at the meeting.

Pineda described steps staff plans to take to improve transparency, including formalizing guidance beyond current practice, enhancing outreach policies, and creating a single web page that lists large-load customers and the status of their projects so the public can more easily find permit and environmental documents. He also noted that environmental documents and water service assessments analyze potable versus recycled water and system type (closed-loop, open-loop), and that mitigation has reduced potable water use in prior projects such as the recently completed Equinix project in Edenvale.

The committee discussed regional electricity capacity estimates — staff said South Bay capacity improvements could allow up to 2,000 megawatts of new load across many project types but emphasized that figure is a regional capacity estimate, not a promise that all megawatts will be deployed within San Jose or by data centers alone.

Members repeatedly urged multilingual, robust outreach that goes beyond mass mailers, and at least one council member suggested considering prevailing-wage and labor standards for construction work tied to large-load projects. Staff said those topics are part of the standards’ development work and engagement plans.

The committee voted 5-0 to advance the staff memo and analysis; staff will return to council with a completed work product and public-engagement results, with the expectation of returning by December.