SAN ANTONIO – Several City Council members and concerned residents want to hit pause on the future development of data centers in San Antonio, at least for now.
District 6 councilman Ric Galvan, District 5 councilwoman Teri Castillo, and District 8 councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez all signed a memo Wednesday to force a vote on a data center moratorium. Their memo requests a meeting by Aug. 31.
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The council members want the ordinance to establish a temporary moratorium on all applications for concept plans, site development plans and permits for data centers or “office data processing and management” as defined in the City of San Antonio Unified Development Code.
The goal of the moratorium, Galvan said at a Friday morning news conference in front of City Hall, is to give time to get local regulation on the books and allow the state legislature to meet and address concerns.
“So, for the next 90 to 180 days, until we can ensure that this industry does not damage our environment, it creates local benefits for the community, is built by union labor, and does not raise our residents’ bills. I say no new data centers here in San Antonio,” Galvan said.
Galvan said his district has the highest concentration of data centers in San Antonio and Bexar County.
He and other council members have previously discussed possible regulation, such as zoning. However, a spokeswoman for the city’s Development Services Department said they are still holding stakeholder meetings, and nothing has been officially proposed.
Galvan also called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who announced a moratorium on data center approvals earlier this week, to convene a special session on data centers.
He also wants the city-owned utilities, CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System, to develop plans to require new data centers to use clean energy and recycled water.
“Our zoning and land use codes should benefit working-class residents of San Antonio, not tech billionaires here in our city,” Galvan said. “There is too much at stake for lip service, from our energy and water infrastructure, to our air quality and public health, to our tree canopy and quality of life; our residents are asking us to act.”