AURORA | Aurora lawmakers are planning to continue tackling data center regulations at a city council study session and regular meeting on Monday.
First, the council is set to discuss a proposed prohibition on tax incentives for data centers.
The prohibition on future tax incentives for data centers was proposed by Mayor Mike Coffman and supported by council members at the October Management and Finance committee meeting.
The prohibition would end the practice of remitting sales or use tax back to data centers in exchange for jobs, however it would not apply to existing agreements, according to the draft policy.
The city has already committed to four incentive agreements, with a maximum total rebate of about $83 million. One of the incentive agreements is for the Trident data center, which could receive up to $39 million in tax rebates. The center has been the focus of controversy and opposition primarily because of its proposed proximity to housing developments.
Additionally, after failing to get the needed votes to reconsider a data center moratorium at the Oct. 26 meeting, Coffman said he plans to try again on Monday.
It’s unclear if the votes will be any different at the Nov. 9 meeting, with Councilmembers Rob Andrews, Françoise Bergan, Curtis Gardner, Stephanie Hancock and Angela Lawson having opposed the moratorium twice in the past.
The city council first discussed and rejected an indefinite moratorium on data centers in August and then again rejected the proposal at the Oct. 26 council meeting.
Since the proposal was originally rejected, it needs seven council members to agree to reconsider it. That failed to happen at the Oct. 26 meeting when only six members voted in support.
In preparation for a potential third failure of the moratorium, Coffman announced on social media that he is drafting a different proposal that would only need six votes to pass.
The new moratorium would pause applications for data centers unless the facility has guaranteed service from an electrical utility. It would be on the Nov. 23 council agenda.
“This will help delay any new data center applications until the new regulations are put in place that will protect neighborhoods from having data centers built unacceptably too close to them,” Coffman said.
Coffman said his preference remains to pass the original indefinite moratorium because “it is tied directly to the adoption of new regulations,” adding that current regulations are insufficient and allowed the Trident facility to move forward.
The moratorium reconsideration is driven by the swell of public backlash against the planned Trident data center, which has applied to build near the Windler and Green Valley Ranch neighborhoods, including a senior housing community.
Neither the original or newly proposed moratorium would impact the Trident data center at its current location and city officials previously said that they also wouldn’t impact alternative locations because the city has already accepted its application for development.
The developer of Trident, Vantage Data Centers, has requested the council pause new regulations for 90-days while the company looks for alternative locations. No other locations have been identified yet.
“In the spirit of being a constructive partner and working collaboratively, Vantage is going to evaluate the technical and operational feasibility of locating the data center on sites further from residentially zoned parcels, where appropriate opportunities may exist,” Matthew Clark, senior manager of public policy for Vantage, said in the letter.
In its letter, Vantage says new regulations, like the moratorium, could “hinder our efforts and lead to a negative outcome for both the residents of Aurora and Vantage.”
Vantage previously said the company is working with Xcel Energy and the city to evaluate other locations to see if they meet the technical, energy and operational requirements needed for the facility.
“At the same time, we continue to advance the current site, which is appropriately zoned for data center use and remains under review through the city’s established development process. No decision has been made to relocate the project,” Mark Freeman, vice president for global marketing at Vantage, said in a statement. “We remain committed to listening to the community and collaborating with local leaders and our partners as we evaluate the best path forward.”
In the social media post, Coffman reiterated his plan to call up the Trident project for council to potentially reject the project if the data center doesn’t voluntarily move locations. The project can’t be called up until it receives administrative approval.
The project is currently on its fourth submission to the city, though the deadline for that submission has been delayed by the city requiring Vantage to host a public meeting. No meeting has been scheduled.