A September 14 memo from Riverside Councilmember Philip Falcone proposes an ordinance that would explicitly prohibit data centers as a land use in the city. It asks that the City Council direct the City Attorney’s Office to prepare the ordinance, then take it to the Planning Commission and back to the council for final approval.
The memo says city staff currently interprets the Riverside Municipal Code as already prohibiting data centers. It cites Section 19.150.020, under which uses missing from the permitted-uses table are prohibited unless the community and economic development director finds them similar to, and no more detrimental than, a listed use. The code is silent on data centers. The proposed ordinance would state the prohibition outright.
The memo also proposes a definition: a facility is a data center when more than 50 percent of its primary operations are data-center functions, such as artificial intelligence computing, cloud computing, centralized data storage or server operations, regardless of its square footage. It proposes barring a data center from being established as an accessory to another use, such as a job-training facility. These are proposals in the memo, not adopted rules. The Raincross Gazette reports that Land Use Committee Chair Clarissa Cervantes questioned whether the 50 percent threshold could leave a loophole, and that Falcone said he was open to changing it.
The memo proposes a permanent prohibition and does not mention a moratorium. The Gazette reported a different committee step: that the Land Use Committee voted unanimously on September 14 to recommend that the full council adopt a 90-day urgency moratorium on new data center proposals, while staff develops a definition and the permanent policy moves forward. The Gazette says Community & Economic Development Director Miranda Evans recommended the moratorium to give the city time to prepare definitions, and that most public commenters supported a citywide ban while two urged a study first.
By the Gazette’s account, the permanent policy would return to the Land Use Committee once staff has a definition, then go to the Planning Commission, with the City Council deciding on any permanent ordinance. The Gazette also reports that Riverside already has at least three smaller data centers, and that the committee did not discuss how the measures would affect them.
We checked three city records on October 6. The city’s online file for the item, 26-2992, lists it as “Agenda Ready” under the Land Use Committee, with no action history shown. The City Council’s October 6 agenda lists no data-center item. The Planning Commission’s October 8 meeting is listed as canceled. These records do not show a council date or council action on a moratorium or an ordinance. We have not reviewed minutes or a recording of the committee meeting.