Richmond City Council to Consider Data Center Moratorium
The Richmond City Council is set to consider a 45-day urgency ordinance that would ban new data center permits, entitlements, or zoning changes within the city. This move follows community concerns, despite there being no current or pending data center applications in Richmond. Local residents and environmental groups are organizing a rally to support the proposed moratorium.
The Richmond City Council is scheduled to hold its first meeting after a summer break, where it will consider a 45-day urgency ordinance proposing a moratorium on new data center permits, entitlements, or zoning changes within the city. The approval of such an ordinance would require a supermajority vote. City staff were instructed to draft the moratorium after OpenAI leased a 200,000-square-foot property at Portside Commerce Center in the Port of Richmond earlier this year; however, Port Director Charles Gerard clarified that the site would be for “operational software and hardware development and testing,” not a data center.
The proposed moratorium stems from community concerns that massive data center facilities could drive up utility bills, strain local power grids, and consume large amounts of water, despite current reports indicating no pending applications for data centers in Richmond. If adopted, the moratorium could be extended for up to 22 months and 15 days, with city staff planning to seek an extension within the initial 45-day period.
Richmond would become the second Bay Area city to adopt such a moratorium, following Oakley in east Contra Costa County, which passed one in April. Council members Claudia Jimenez and Sue Wilson, alongside environmental groups Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), will hold a press conference and a community rally prior to Tuesday night's council meeting to advocate for the ban.