Austin City Council votes to regulate data centers

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin City Council unanimously approved a resolution to start creating regulations for data centers. 

This includes updating the land development code and creating requirements for water use, energy use, noise, and lighting. 

The backstory:

Austin currently has no regulatory framework for data centers. 

"What we want to do is we want to protect against the harm that data centers can bring. We also want to be ahead of the curve on knowing when they might be in our community," Mayor Kirk Watson said earlier this week. 

In a memo, city staff recommended not having incentives for data centers to come to Austin, and if one does come, there should not be exemptions for resource efficiency standards. 

Watson and several other council members recommended freezing approvals of data center applications until a complete policy is adopted.

Watson added an amendment to the resolution that says Council needs to know about any data center project requests that are greater than 20 megawatts of electricity or exceed 85 million gallons of water per year. He asked the city manager to provide an update in 60 days on how the code amendments are going. 

"We're doing this in a very thoughtful way so that we can provide the best protections. We make sure we don't do something that creates a loophole. We want to do it the right way," Watson said. 

Council also amended the staff recommendation to require binding regulations by the end of 2026, allowing it to define which data centers are allowed within the City limits and which are prohibited. Council, in particular, is looking to ban larger data centers and define that limitation "as aggressively as possible", per a release following the vote.

City Council members released statements following vote

What they're saying:

A group of City Council members issued statements after the vote:

Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes (District 2): "While data centers pop up across our state and country at breakneck speed, Austin shouldn't have to choose between Big Tech's bottom line and our right to clean water, breathable air, and reliable power. Today, I’m proud we took a promising first step toward regulating that growth."

Councilmember José Velasquez (District 3): "Major data centers bring too many unknown and undefined environmental and social impacts, and my concern is that this would again inequitably affect low-income and historically underserved communities that have faced the realities of environmental injustice for too long. We cannot–and will not–support the presence of hyperscale data centers within the city."

Councilmember Ryan Alter (District 5): "Data centers pose a real threat to our natural resources, our environment, and our quality of life. Today's actions are the necessary first step to protect our community from these harms."

Councilmember Mike Siegel (District 7): "The push for large data centers is driven by corporate profiteering and the determination of billionaires to replace workers with artificial intelligence. Today we are taking strong action to say, ‘Not in Austin – not today, not ever.’ These facilities are incompatible with our natural environment and our quality of life, and we don’t want them here."

Councilmember Zohaib "Zo" Qadri (District 9): "The rapid growth of hyperscale data centers poses serious challenges for Austin’s energy and water resources, and we have a responsibility to act before those impacts become even greater. With the passage of Item 61, we are taking an important step toward protecting our resources, advancing our climate and equity goals, and ensuring Austin remains a sustainable and livable city for generations to come."

Local perspective:

Many people in public comment Thursday asked for a moratorium on data centers. Many felt there should be stronger language in the resolution. 

"I think this item is deceptive because it starts from the assumption that industrial scale data centers are something Austin should accommodate," Gerry Wheat said. 

"I am asking City Council to enact a ban or a moratorium on data centers. Data centers use too much of our resources to even consider this viable business option," Christina DeStafano said. 

"We do have a concern if there's not a moratorium in the meantime that does give developers the opportunity to get in and get those permits and get grandfathered in," Kaiba White said. 

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