Update, October 1: The Palm Springs City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday, September 30, to extend its data-center pause by 22 months and 15 days, KESQ reports. The Palm Springs Post reports the pause now runs through August 25, 2028. The text below was written before the vote.
The Palm Springs City Council is scheduled to take up, on Wednesday, September 30, whether to extend its pause on data centers for an additional 22 months and 15 days, which would make it two years counting the original 45 days. The current pause, adopted on August 26, runs out on October 10. The pause prohibits the approval of applications and permits related to data centers, according to the city’s agenda. The city’s definition of a data center reaches cloud computing, AI training or processing and email servicing, but not servers secondary to the main use of a site, such as a hospital’s or an office’s. It’s a public hearing, so members of the public can speak before the council votes, and an extension takes a four-fifths vote, according to the city’s staff report.
The staff report says: “No zoning standards, performance requirements, setback rules, noise standards, utility demand thresholds, or environmental mitigation requirements specifically applicable to data centers have been adopted.” Staff want the time to study the benefits and impacts, to “evaluate the appropriateness of such uses within the City,” and to write regulations as part of the city’s Zoning Code Update. The extension would be rescinded once the Zoning Code Update is finished and data-center regulations are established.