After the Pagosa Springs Town Council directed staff to draft a two-year moratorium on data centers within town limits on July 21, the council decided, on Aug. 4, to go with a six-month moratorium instead.
The time-frame change of the moratorium came after Planning Manager Owen O’Dell explained that the town’s “legal team” advised staff that “moratoriums are best at six-month intervals.”
The council could still achieve the two-year moratorium, if it so desired, explained O’Dell, but it would require an extension every six months to achieve the two years as originally requested by the council.
In general, the council and staff decided that a moratorium of some length was appropriate to give the town time to define data centers within its Land Use and Development Code (LUDC) and to work out in the code if it wants to set regulations on data centers or even ban them outright.
Archuleta County has also approved a six-month moratorium on data centers.
After the town council unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance, placing the six-month moratorium, Mayor Shari Pierce said, “Thank you. I’m glad we are giving ourselves some time.”
O’Dell explained that the ordinance “is intended to allow staff to closely monitor data center development across the nation and specifically in the state of Colorado regarding technological advancements, especially as it pertains to human and ecological impact.”
Council member Brooks Lindner commented, “Moving forward, as elected officials, I think it’s important for us all to think about the questions that we ought to be asking about what is happening. Not just with data centers, but with this new immersion of the people who control data and their effect on our political system.”
He added, “We are in a new environment now, and it requires, from us, new ways of thinking about this and new questions.”
Council member Leonard Martinez said, “Policies have not yet been set out to take into account what’s happening with … [this] new technology.”
He added, “We need to make sure that our policies are in place — federal, state and local — so that whenever there’s a new technology … we are in a position to take advantage of it, and it doesn’t take advantage of us.”
During public comment, resident Bill Hudson expressed that “this technology is very dangerous.”
“It’s threatening our country and our democracy,” he said, adding that he is “glad the town is getting ahead of it.”
Currently, the town’s LUDC has no language defining or codifying data centers, prompting O’Dell to say at a previous meeting, “We don’t want to be caught on our heels” if a “big developer” were to come to town “throwing money around,” hoping to build a data center.
The LUDC needs to include language defining data centers to either implement smart zoning regulations or ban them outright, O’Dell explained.
“When an application is made for a type of use that is not specifically listed … the Director shall make a determination as to the appropriate classification of a new or unlisted form of land use,” the LUDC states.
Currently, the most closely related use the LUDC defines “would be the use of a Warehouse, which is defined as: A structure containing an area available for the purpose of storing raw materials, goods, or property.”
While no developer has come to the town’s planning department wanting to build a data center, “we want to get ahead of the eight ball on this,” said Town Manager David Harris at a previous meeting.
derek@pagosasun.com
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