The San Diego City Council today unanimously backed a 45-day moratorium on the permitting, approval and development of data centers within city limits.
The vote was prompted last week after a local developer floated the idea of building one near Old Town in the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command site — known as NAVWAR. Mayor Todd Gloria immediately issued and signed an executive order to temporarily pause data center development in San Diego until the city can develop regulations.
"I appreciate the City Council's unanimous ratification of the temporary moratorium on data center development," Gloria said. "This is a necessary and responsible step to make sure any development does not outpace our responsibility to protect San Diegans.
"Data centers can place significant demands on electricity, water, land and infrastructure. San Diego welcomes innovation, investment and the jobs that come with them. What we will not do is ask residents to absorb unnecessary costs or neighborhood impacts. We can support innovation and protect San Diegans at the same time, and that is exactly what this moratorium allows us to do. This is the right decision for our city," the mayor added.
Dozens of San Diegans spoke at Tuesday's council meeting — including speakers dressed as Elmo from "Sesame Street" and Lord Farquaad from "Shrek" — nearly unanimously opposed to the development of data centers in the city.
"San Diegans were clear, unambiguous and passionate about why data centers don't belong in San Diego," Council President Joe LaCava said.
Tuesday's action puts the pause on the development of data centers for 45 days while city staff develop a framework on how to proceed with such facilities — if at all — in the future. The moratorium could be extended for nearly two years if the council chooses to.
City staff would have a deadline of 180 days to bring forward preliminary recommendations to the mayor and council, guided by a Data Center Stakeholder Working Group, including representatives with expertise in fields ranging from technology, utilities, water, land use, housing and community advocacy, according to a statement from the mayor's office.
The plan is to officially amend the city's land development code next year. Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera tacked on amendments to the moratorium intended to guide the creation of a framework, including council notification of any proposed centers within seven days, no costs from data centers imposed upon city residents, project labor agreements needing to use union labor during construction, clean, renewable energy only and a minimum distance from schools, parks and child care centers, among others.
The idea of a 400-megawatt data center by the San Diego-based Manchester Financial Group was being considered for the NAVWAR location. It would include enough energy to power around 300,000 homes annually and would be the largest in the state of California.
"The costs dramatically outweigh any benefits in the current environment," Councilman Raul Campillo said.
Ted Eldredge, president and CEO of that company, said the data center was one of several ideas and that nothing had been finalized.
"Manchester Financial Group's priority for the Old Town Campus redevelopment is delivering modern facilities for NAVWAR, and we remain committed to working with the Navy and other community stakeholders to do so throughout this process," he wrote in a statement. "Several other project elements are being considered such as retail, commercial, industrial and hospitality uses. The possibilities of a medical center, university campus, defense industry campus, data center and life science facility are also being explored."
This 70-acre, Navy-owned site has been the subject of redevelopment speculation for several years, including as a mixed-use site that could include affordable house as well as military housing.
Since NAVWAR is federally owned, a city moratorium is more of a symbolic measure for that specific site, but several council members said the fight would continue.
"The people asking the hardest questions and fighting the hardest are the ones who will live with it," said Elo-Rivera, referring to dozens of young people speaking at Tuesday's meeting. "The future does not belong to billionaires. Donald Trump wants data centers on federal land so he can dodge communities like ours."
Trump has ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to find military property that could be used to house data centers.
"San Diego needs more affordable housing, not more computer servers," Councilman Stephen Whitburn said. "Federal ownership does not mean San Diegans should be shut out of decisions which will impact us for generations to come."
One of Elo-Rivera's amendments was to get Gloria's government affairs team to lobby lawmakers to take the issue up in Congress.
"Working families and young people are being priced out of the city, struggling to afford rent, and wondering whether they can ever buy a home in San Diego," Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee said. "That includes countless service members who call San Diego home. NAVWAR should maximize its potential as a transit-oriented development with a vibrant residential neighborhood. The city should utilize the extent of our land use authority to regulate data centers and to protect the quality of life for all San Diegans."
