Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Energy Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission expresses skepticism about wind/solar/data‑center ordinance, declines to advance it
Summary
After discussion of power, water and local capacity, the planning commission indicated it does not want to pursue an ordinance enabling wind, solar or data‑center development at this time, citing local water and power constraints and limited long‑term community benefit from large data centers.
Staff introduced a request to consider drafting an ordinance to address wind, solar and data‑center uses in county code. Commissioners and staff engaged in a substantive policy discussion about whether the county should enable those uses and, if so, on what terms.
Commissioners raised several practical concerns: data centers require large, reliable power supplies and significant water for cooling; they typically generate few long‑term operational jobs; and they can increase local electricity and water rates by adding heavy load. "Data centers take tons of power and tons of water for cooling, and they don't provide a lot of jobs," a planning-staff attendee said during the discussion. Several commissioners noted that counties with limited water and power capacity are poor fits for such high‑intensity uses. At the meeting's close on the item, the commission signaled it was not prepared to move forward with an enabling ordinance on wind, solar or data centers at this time.
