Reno council passes temporary data center moratorium as citizens push for permanent ban

The Reno City Council voted Thursday 6-1 in favor of a temporary moratorium on data center applications. Council member Kathleen Taylor was the sole no vote, and Council member Brandi Anderson said she did not want to vote for the moratorium but voted for the resolution to “do the work” if it meant ultimately focusing on new data center regulations. The moratorium was passed in contradiction to the council voting against creating data center development standards more than a year ago. At that time, city staff claimed they did "extensive outreach" when the city cleaned up codes that ultimately allowed data centers with conditional use permits. No records of data center discussions prior to then could be found on the city's website or in official documents. Public comment and discussion on the item Thursday lasted more than six hours, with the city clerk announcing that there were 154 letters in support of the moratorium, one letter in opposition and 22 people marked as neutral or concerned. Get the full report by Michelle Baker on thisisreno.com.