Huerfano County commissioners impose temporary moratorium on large data centers after flood of public concern

Huerfano County commissioners voted Wednesday to temporarily bar construction or activity related to large data centers while the county develops regulations and holds a public hearing.

The board acted after extended public comment in which multiple residents said a proposed hyperscale data center near Walsenburg would worsen local water scarcity, create persistent noise and lighting, and depress property values. "A permanent legislative moratorium on the construction or operation of any data center in Walsenburg or Huerfano County" was urged by Daniel McConnell during public comment.

A commissioner moved to deem "data centers of a certain size" a matter of state interest under Colorado statute CRS 24-65.1-44; Commissioner Wardell explained the effect of that designation, quoting the statute: "No person shall engage in any development in such an area and no activity shall be conducted until the designation and guidelines or regulations for such an area or activity of state interest are finally determined and permit has been issued there." The motion was seconded and carried with the commissioners voting yes.

Commissioners said the moratorium will remain in effect until the board holds the required public hearing(s) and adopts guidelines or regulations; county staff noted there is no fixed statutory timeline for completing that work. Staff also reported that a deed recorded for a parcel near the discussed site indicates a property purchase was completed, but no development application had been filed with the county at the time of the meeting.

Speakers who opposed the project repeatedly cited water as the primary concern, warning that large data centers can consume millions of gallons daily in some configurations. Several residents also raised noise (one speaker cited a typical range of 55–85 decibels for data-center equipment) and impacts to dark-sky conditions as reasons to block the development.

County staff and commissioners acknowledged a range of cooling and power technologies exist — from closed-loop glycol systems to immersion cooling — and said the moratorium will give the county time to determine which technologies and regulatory standards, if any, are appropriate locally.

Next steps: county staff will publish notices of the designation, set a public hearing date to consider formal adoption of a matter-of-state-interest designation and related regulations, and solicit public input during the rulemaking process. The moratorium remains in place until those procedures are complete.

The board took the vote after a half-hour-plus of public comment and discussion and adjourned the meeting after routine staff reports.