Trump Wants Data Centers on Federal Property Like NAVWAR Site
The San Diego City Council is preparing to vote on a temporary ban that would pause pending large data center applications while the city develops new regulations. The proposed moratorium would not apply to the federal NAVWAR site, where Manchester Financial Group is exploring a 400-megawatt data center redevelopment, and federal policy could limit local oversight.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has proposed a 45-day emergency moratorium on large data center applications, with the possibility of extensions totaling up to 20 months while the city develops data center zoning rules. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the measure, which was prompted in part by Manchester Financial Group’s discussions with the U.S. Navy about redeveloping the federal NAVWAR property near the Midway District at 4301 Pacific Highway.
City officials acknowledge that a local moratorium would not be able to block a project on federal land. The Trump administration has directed the Defense Department to identify military sites for data centers and issued an executive order intended to accelerate permitting for facilities larger than 100 megawatts while narrowing environmental review requirements. Stanford environmental law professor Debbie Sivas criticized the changes, while the Navy said it expects to release a revised environmental impact statement for the NAVWAR redevelopment in 2027.