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Ames council orders temporary delay on LightEdge data‑center decision, directs immediate code and utility fixes
Summary
After weeks of public comment, Ames City Council voted to impose a temporary delay on LightEdge and other data‑center proposals and directed staff to pursue four immediate actions: define 'data center' in zoning, reconcile electric tariff/code discrepancies, add water/wastewater excess‑facilities thresholds, and strengthen industrial site‑analysis requirements.
The Ames City Council voted July 14 to temporarily delay any final decision on LightEdge’s request to negotiate a lease at the Ames airport and on other proposed data‑center developments while staff researches and reports back to council.
Assistant City Manager Bridal Phillips told the council that staff and the city attorney had reviewed legal tools the city could use to restrict construction or operation of data centers. She said the city’s zoning code lacks a modern definition of a “data center” and that staff recommends at least four actions: (1) adopt a clear definition of data centers as a distinct land‑use category, (2) resolve discrepancies in the electric tariff and municipal code and create a contract‑rate framework for unique large users, (3) add threshold language and excess‑facilities charges for large water and wastewater users so infrastructure costs are borne by beneficiaries, and (4) strengthen industrial site‑plan and use‑analysis requirements so projects that create excessive noise, vibration, or utility impacts can be denied or conditioned.
Phillips described other options on the table, including elevating review of large data‑center projects from staff to city‑council review, requiring special‑use permits, requiring rezoning with a master plan or overlay, or adopting a permanent zoning prohibition. She also described a moratorium/temporary‑delay vehicle that would pause new approvals while the city writes rules and gathers more data.
Director of Electric Services Donald Kalm said the electric tariff contains a contract‑rate mechanism and that the city could require large or unique customers to secure their own capacity or to pay the added cost of new infrastructure through a contract arrangement.
During more than two hours of council discussion and public engagement, council members debated the scope and speed of the review. Staff estimated that, depending on the number of issues the council asks staff to study and the council’s priorities, producing thorough analysis and draft policies could take about six months to a year. Council members discussed quarterly workshops, bringing in outside technical consultants, and staging the work so the most important changes come first.
Councilor Rachel (mover) offered the motion to adopt option 1 — a temporary delay with staff directed to return with the requested information — which passed. Councilor Gloria then moved, and the council approved, a separate direction asking staff to pursue immediately the four staff‑recommended code and tariff changes noted above.
Bridal Phillips said staff will post presentation materials and poll/report results from the June listening session and will return to council for further direction at the July 28 meeting. The council did not make a final decision on LightEdge’s airport lease request; instead it established the process and timeline for additional review.
What’s next: staff will prepare a draft resolution to establish the temporary delay’s scope and timeframe for the next council meeting, and will return with a work plan for the four priority code/tariff items the council ordered pursued.
