Spokane council introduces data center moratorium after Avista 500 MW pause

Spokane City Council members have moved quickly into the city’s data-center debate. On June 10, Council Members Paul Dillon, Sarah Dixit and Kate Telis introduced an ordinance that would impose an immediate one-year citywide moratorium on the acceptance, processing, review and approval of building permit applications for new computer data centers.

The proposal is not a completed ban. City officials said the pause would give Spokane time to evaluate whether it has the right rules in place before any large project advances, including a look at the city’s Comprehensive Plan, Water Conservation Plan, Water System Plan and economic development strategy.

Why the issue escalated

The timing matters because Avista said June 12 that it was pausing processing energy requests tied to a potential large data-center developer. In its public statement, the utility said it wanted more time to work with government agencies, local leaders and other stakeholders on a coordinated planning process after community concern about the earlier memorandum of understanding.

Avista’s May 29 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission says the company entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with a developer in its Washington service territory. The filing says the customer is seeking an initial load of 125 megawatts starting in 2029, with a pathway to 500 megawatts by 2032, subject to further evaluation, regulatory review and definitive agreements.

The filing does not identify the company or the location. The city and utility dispute is instead about what Spokane should allow, and on what terms, before a project of that scale moves forward.

What Spokane residents should watch next

For homeowners and renters, the immediate issue is not a data center already arriving in the neighborhood. It is whether Spokane wants to slow approvals while it studies possible effects on electricity, water use, noise and other local impacts.

For business owners and workers, the case matters because large-load projects can shape grid planning, permit standards and development rules. For ratepayers, the central question is whether added infrastructure costs will be pushed onto existing customers or covered by the project itself.

The city release said council was scheduled to act on the item June 15. Because the sources provided here do not verify a final vote, the safest reading is that Spokane had introduced a moratorium proposal, not a permanent citywide ban. Residents should watch for whether council advances, amends or drops the measure and whether staff begin drafting longer-term data-center rules.

Sources

• City of Spokane: data center moratorium release
• Avista: pause on 500 MW data center request
• Avista SEC filing on the non-binding MOU