- San Marcos aldermen have approved new zoning laws banning data centers
- The same zoning laws could be used by 352 cities across Texas
- But there are a few hurdles to jump through before anyone can celebrate
San Marcos may have just answered the main question surrounding data center construction in American cities – how do we prevent it?
Well, it turns out that simply defining what a data center is and then excluding their construction from zoning codes may have been the answer cities across the United States have been looking for.
That’s exactly what the San Marcos City Council did when they voted 4-3 on June 16 to ban the construction of data centers within the city limits on the grounds that they would deprive the local population of water and energy resources.
San Marcos bans data centers
The San Marcos City Council feared new data centers would encroach on city limits, with two new projects proposed just outside the city in unincorporated parts of Hays County.
Banning data centers at the county level is a hurdle that several city councilors have tried to jump across the US with little effect – a problem Hays County councilors have encountered after imposing a non-legally binding pause on data center development.
San Marcos could be a case to watch, as it will likely see opposition from data center development groups and legal challenges from representatives such as state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who commented on the city council’s decision, stating, “They shouldn’t use zoning to ban anything anywhere in the city because it’s not legal under the guidelines of the state of Texas.” [A ban] doesn’t work here and it will be challenged.”
There are other Texas cities with similar levels of zoning control — 352 to be exact — that will be watching the legal challenge to this ruling closely because, if successful, it would set a precedent for other cities across the state to ban data centers within city limits.
The experts certainly believe the San Marcos moratorium can stand, and Robert Paterson, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, states, “theoretically, I think the courts could uphold it.”
But the biggest obstacle to both the San Marcos ban and the broader break in Hays County is the Death Star Act of 2023, which prevents local legislation from overriding state law.
Elsewhere in the US, representatives and citizens alike are using whatever they can to oppose local data center construction, with about half of the US data centers planned for 2026 being canceled or delayed. City council members are losing their jobs after approving data center projects against their constituents’ wishes, and data centers will be a central issue in the upcoming midterm elections.
Smaller cities with less power to control zoning instead make it as difficult as possible to build a data center within city limits rather than banning them outright, to circumvent building bans and moratoriums.
Via Texas Tribune
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