Board asks staff to draft moratorium, study zoning for data centers

Staff and board members discussed whether to pause approvals for data-center projects while the county studies zoning options. A staff member said the county could start with a moratorium and later adopt a zoning ordinance but warned that a comprehensive zoning approach would likely be stronger legally. "So what I'll do is I'll draft the moratorium and I'll put it on the calendar and come over next week to present that to you guys," the staff member said.

Board members favored using the moratorium as a pause to buy time for a study and for drafting potential zoning language. One member said a moratorium without a clear follow-up would be ineffective: "I think if we're just doing a moratorium to do a moratorium and we're not gonna do anything on the back end of it, that's probably not a great idea," the same staff member said. The discussion did not produce a final vote; staff committed to circulating the draft in advance so members could review it before formal consideration.