Broken Arrow City Council to consider 6 month moratorium on data center proposals
The Broken Arrow City Council is set to consider a six-month moratorium on new data center proposals to allow city leaders time to study potential impacts. This proposal follows the expiration of a letter of intent for a potential data center project and aims to evaluate issues like electrical consumption, water demand, and noise.
The Broken Arrow City Council is scheduled to consider a six-month moratorium on new data center proposals during its upcoming Monday evening meeting. If approved, the moratorium would immediately halt the acceptance of land use development applications for data center projects.
Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon is recommending the pause to allow city officials sufficient time to study the potential impacts of data centers on the community. Officials plan to evaluate various issues including electrical consumption, utility rates, water demand, noise generation, traffic, tax exemptions, and public infrastructure demands. The city also intends to review and potentially update its zoning ordinance, which currently lacks specific provisions for data centers.
The recommendation for a moratorium follows the expiration of a letter of intent between a private property owner and an unnamed company that had been considering a 52-acre site in east Broken Arrow for a data center. Spurgeon indicated that the ordinance was modeled after similar moratoriums enacted by the cities of Tulsa and Oklahoma City earlier this year. While some residents support the pause for thorough evaluation, others emphasize the economic growth data centers can bring and advocate for sustainable operation rather than development limits.