- San Marcos councilors approved new zoning laws banning data centers
- The same zoning laws could be used by 352 cities across Texas
- But there are some obstacles to overcome before anyone can celebrate.
San Marcos may have answered the biggest question about building data centers in US cities: How can we prevent it?
Well, it turns out that simply defining what a data center is and then excluding its construction from zoning codes may have been the answer America's cities have been looking for.
That's exactly what the San Marcos City Council did, voting 4-3 on June 16 to ban the construction of data centers within city limits on the grounds that they would deprive local people of water and energy resources.
San Marcos bans data centers
The San Marcos City Council feared new data centers would encroach on city limits, and two new projects were proposed on the outskirts of the city in unincorporated parts of Hays County.
The ban on data centers at the county level is an obstacle that several councilors have tried to overcome across the United States with little effect – a problem that Hays County councilors have encountered after introducing a non-binding pause on data center development.
San Marcos may be a case to watch, as it will likely see opposition from data center development groups and legal challenges from representatives such as state senator Paul Bettencourt, who commented on the city council's decision by stating: “They shouldn't use zoning to ban anything everywhere in the city, because that's not legal under the state of Texas guidelines. [A ban] “It doesn't work here and this will be challenged.”
There are other cities in Texas with similar levels of control over zoning (352 to be exact) that will closely monitor the legal challenge against this ruling because, if successful, it will set a precedent for other cities in the state to ban data centers within city limits.
Experts certainly believe the San Marcos moratorium could pass, with Robert Paterson, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, saying, “In theory, I think the courts could uphold it.”
But the main obstacle to both the San Marcos ban and the broader Hays County pause is the Death Star law of 2023, which prevents local law from overriding state law.
Elsewhere in the US, representatives and citizens alike are using every measure they can take to oppose local data center construction projects, with about half of US data centers planned for 2026 canceled or delayed. Local councilors are losing their jobs after approving data center projects against the wishes of their constituents, and data centers will be a key issue during the upcoming midterm elections.
Smaller cities with less power to control zoning are making it as difficult as possible to build a data center within city limits, rather than prohibiting them altogether, to circumvent regulations on construction bans and moratoriums..
Through Texas Grandstand
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