San Diego prepares data-center pause; council vote still required

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an order on Oct. 22 directing city staff to prepare a proposed temporary moratorium on applicable data-center development for City Council consideration. The city scheduled the proposal for Oct. 26. As of Oct. 24, the Council had not acted, and the order itself had not paused development.

The order took effect at 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 22, but that was the effective time of the administrative order—not a start date for a development ban. Any moratorium would require Council approval and would apply according to the terms of an ordinance the Council adopts. Developers seeking approvals under city authority could be affected if the Council approves one. The order does not specify the proposed moratorium’s duration or exactly which applications it would cover.

Order sets deadlines for longer-term rules i

The order directs the City Planning Department and Development Services to develop recommendations on data-center siting, development, construction, operation and expansion. It also establishes a mayor-appointed stakeholder working group of no more than 15 members. Preliminary recommendations are due within 180 days of the order’s effective date; within 180 days after those recommendations are released, staff are to begin the public notice, hearing and legislative process for permanent regulations.

Water supplies, electricity demand and costs, infrastructure, land-use compatibility, housing opportunities, environmental effects and neighborhoods are among the subjects identified for review. These are topics for study, not established effects of a particular facility. The order also directs the mayor’s Government Affairs team to develop or support state or federal legislative proposals addressing data-center impacts, including at facilities on state or federal property.

NAVWAR concept is a separate jurisdictional issue i

Local reporting has described an exploratory concept for a possible 400-megawatt data center at the Navy’s NAVWAR site. It is not an approved or confirmed project. Because the site is federal property, local officials have said the city alone could not stop a project there.

Officials and community members opposed a possible NAVWAR data center at an Oct. 22 public event; those objections concerned the possible site, not formal comments on the interim ordinance. Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera was separately working on data-center requirements, distinct from the interim proposal awaiting Council consideration.