Discussion re Data Center and High Impact Utility Consumer Engagement Plan.

Staff are looking for feedback and direction on next steps. 

At the July 13, 2026, City Council meeting, the Council adopted an interim ordinance authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on data centers and high-impact utility consumers. As staff have been working on developing an engagement plan, it has emerged that there would be some benefit for the Council to discuss the scope of the study. A few questions that have emerged include:
 

• Are we addressing hyperscale data centers specifically—or data centers as a land use generally? Is there an interest in permitting the use or prohibiting the use? We believe we have heard from a portion of the community that there is interest.
• Because data centers may vary in size, land consumption, employees, energy and water demand, noise, traffic, appearance, and infrastructure needs, does the Council have feedback on the size or scope that is of concern? We previously included a water demand threshold that raised operational concerns in the definition of High Impact Utility Consumer.
• There are data centers that already exist in the community. Generally, they are ancillary to another use (MSU has data centers, for example). In any regulation, we need to consider how we may wish to handle any expansion of this type of use.

Getting some direction on the above elements, and any other questions, will assist us in providing a more detailed engagement plan.