County committee adopts ZTA 26-01 definition and countywide prohibition on large data centers pending further study

The Planning, Housing and Parks Committee on July 22 approved a zoning-text amendment, ZTA 26-01, that defines "large data centers," adds a 25-megawatt electricity-use threshold and precludes such facilities countywide while the council continues further study.

The action came in a 3-0 committee voice vote on a global overriding amendment and a companion transition clause, and then in a 3-0 vote on the ZTA as amended. Chair Fitson said the package is intended to preserve the status quo while the council receives additional analysis, including a forthcoming Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) report and state-level studies.

County counsel attorney Wellens reviewed the ZTA's history, saying it was introduced Jan. 20, held a public hearing Feb. 24 with about 24 speakers, and drew more than 200 pieces of written testimony. "Some common themes" in the record, she said, included protecting water quality and quantity, prohibiting groundwater for cooling, requiring advanced cooling techniques, addressing electricity-grid impacts, and setting noise, landscaping and setback standards.

The amendment the sponsors requested and the committee voted to adopt would add a formal definition of data centers and specify that a "large data center" is a facility projected to have an aggregate monthly electricity demand of at least 25 megawatts. Wellens said the language draws on definitions used by other jurisdictions and on the Utility Relief Act of 2026, which requires registration for certain large-load customers.

Staff recommended inserting data centers into the county use table as a blank row—meaning the use would not be allowed anywhere in the county—and adding transition-language exempting any application that had already received a Department of Permitting Services building permit before the ZTA's effective date. Wellens told the committee the transition clause is intended to make the council’s intent clear without retroactively invalidating already-permitted projects.

Council member Jordan, who participated in the Economic Development Committee meeting earlier that day, said the 18-month moratorium adopted by that committee provides a useful runway for analysis and emphasized the need to "get this right" on issues including noise, water and tax rate considerations. In response to a question about facilities under the 25-megawatt threshold, counsel Wellens said existing smaller facilities would not be affected but an expansion that would push a site above the threshold "would not be permitted" under the current ZTA; she added that individual property determinations will be fact-specific and will involve permitting staff and the county attorney's office.

Committee members voted first on the global amendment and then on the transition language; both were counted as 3 to none in favor. Chair Fitson then called for a vote on ZTA 26-01 as amended, which the committee approved by the same 3-0 tally and subsequently adjourned the session. The council president noted that the moratorium approved earlier in the day by the Economic Development Committee will come to full council on Tuesday, where members will consider the moratorium along with the ZTA.

The committee's action sends the amended ZTA to the full council for further consideration and aligns the committee's definition work with the separate moratorium process and upcoming OLO and state studies. No formal motion authorship or recorded roll-call votes with names were entered into the transcript; vote counts were recorded as committee tallies only.

Next steps: the full council is scheduled to take up the moratorium and the ZTA package at its upcoming meeting, and the council will consider OLO and state reports as part of its deliberations.