Riverside Committee Sends 2 Data Center Policy Proposals To Council For Review
Riverside’s Land Use Committee sent two data center policy options to the City Council for review. One would impose a temporary 45-day moratorium on data center applications, potentially extendable to two years, while the other would formally prohibit the city from considering such proposals under its current code.
Riverside’s Land Use Committee directed city staff to present the City Council with two options for pausing or preventing data center development. The first option, scheduled for council consideration on Nov. 10, would establish a 45-day urgency moratorium on approving data center projects, with extensions allowing a pause of up to two years.
The alternative would adopt a resolution stating that data centers cannot currently be considered under Riverside’s land-use code because they are not specifically listed as an allowed use. The recommendations followed earlier committee action to draft a moratorium and the City Council’s creation of an AI working group tasked with developing broader policy recommendations, including rules for data centers. No data center applications had been submitted to the city as of the committee meeting.