At its Oct. 21 meeting, the Morgan Hill City Council voted unanimously, 5–0, to extend the temporary moratorium on new applications for freestanding data centers and large-scale battery storage facilities by 22 months and 15 days.
The purpose of the moratorium is to give the City Council, with community input, time to establish standards addressing potential impacts of these projects, including air pollution, noise, water and energy use and demands on infrastructure.
Staff expects the updated development standards to be ready well before the moratorium expires, and the council confirmed that the moratorium can be lifted once those standards are adopted.
Several union representatives strongly opposed the moratorium extension, citing construction job opportunities. They urged the city to bring residents, labor, industry and other stakeholders together to develop standards without the moratorium.
My concern is that, without a moratorium, a data center project could potentially be approved and construction started before the new standards take effect. The moratorium gives the city time to put those protections in place first.
Mayor Turner said he wished those opposing the extension had offered their input earlier in the discussions, which had been underway for about two months.
I appreciate Councilmember Martinez Beltran initiating this Council discussion in August and the entire Council unanimously supporting both the initial moratorium and its extension.
Taking time to establish thoughtful development standards—with meaningful community input—is a responsible step toward protecting Morgan Hill’s quality of life.
Bruce Cooley
Morgan Hill
