Riverside councilmember brings proposed citywide prohibition on data centers to Land Use Committee
A memo from Councilmember Philip Falcone, on the committee's Sept. 14 agenda, calls for an ordinance explicitly barring data centers in Riverside, citing demands on electricity, water and land.
A proposal to prohibit data centers anywhere in Riverside was on the agenda of the City Council's Land Use Committee on Sept. 14.
The item was brought by Ward 1 Councilmember Philip Falcone, who wrote the memorandum presented to the committee. What the committee decided is not in the records reviewed; no minutes of the meeting were available.
What the memo asks for
The memo recommends that the City Council have the City Attorney's Office draft an ordinance amending the municipal code and development regulations to bar data centers as a land use.
It also asks that the proposed ordinance go to the Planning Commission and then to the council for a final vote.
The memo says the municipal code does not mention data centers, and that uses missing from the permitted-use table are not allowed unless the community development director finds them similar to a listed use.
"Since the Municipal Code is silent on data centers, staff’s current interpretation is that data centers are considered prohibited," the memo says. The ordinance would make that explicit.
How a data center would be defined
The memo says the definition should cover facilities whose main purpose is housing and operating computer servers, including those described as server farms or cloud-computing facilities.
Size would not be the test. A facility would count as one when more than 50% of its primary operations are data center functions such as artificial intelligence computing, cloud storage or data processing.
The memo says accessory uses should be covered too, so that a data center could not be established as a component of another use.
Reasons given
The memo cites electricity demand, cooling water, backup generators, continuous noise and the amount of land data centers occupy relative to the permanent jobs they create.
On power, it says Riverside has a single connection to the statewide electrical grid.
On water, it describes the city's supply as ample compared with other California cities but says new uses that add substantial demand warrant caution.
It argues a citywide rule is more predictable than reviewing projects one at a time.
"The proposed ordinance does not represent opposition to technology or innovation," the memo says.
The memo states that the report carries no fiscal impact.
Related council action
The following day, the full council created a three-member working group on artificial intelligence strategy. Its assigned topics include the resource needs of data centers, according to a separate council report. Falcone was appointed to that group, according to draft council minutes that were attached to the Oct. 6 council agenda and had not yet been approved.
The Land Use Committee meeting was scheduled for 9 a.m. at City Hall.