AURORA | Mayor Mike Coffman on Thursday called for a special Aurora City Council meeting to reconsider a data center moratorium.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday to discuss a proposal from Councilmember Amy Wiles for a potentially indefinite moratorium on accepting data center applications. Coffman said in a social media post that he supports the proposal to pause development until regulations are in place.
“We cannot be blindsided by another Trident Data Center disaster that is unacceptably close to surrounding residential areas,” Coffman’s said in a post on Facebook.. “We must take a pause to prevent any further requests for data center applications until we have the right policies in place.”
Earlier this year, the council rejected a six-month moratorium, with Coffman casting the tie-breaking vote in opposition. However, since then, community backlash against data centers has swelled significantly.
A group of residents in the Windler, Reserve and Green Valley Ranch neighborhoods have organized against the proposed Trident data center, which is located nearby residences on East 48th Avenue.
Wiles credited the community for leading some council members to change their minds.
“I 100% give most of the credit to the community because I had tried to move this forward and be a little bit more restrictive back in the summer, and personally did not have the votes,” Wiles said.
Wiles told the Sentinel that the timeline of the moratorium is still being decided, so it could be an indefinite pause or have a set deadline. She said the goal is to allow the city to address regulations for data centers thoughtfully.
“Instead of doing you know one small change here and then having to go back and readjust it, and kind of doing things piecemeal, it will give us a little bit of time to sort of pull everything together at once and move it all forward,” Wiles said.
If a moratorium passes, the council would have more time to consider already proposed regulations, as well as new ones.
One regulation council is already considering is a residential buffer. In previous conversations, the council was leaning toward a 350 foot buffer, but Wiles said she plans to suggest a larger distance.
The moratorium would likely not impact the Trident data center because the city has already accepted its application for development. It’s unclear how the moratorium would impact other proposed data centers in the city.
Additionally, Councilmember Rob Andrews said in a social media post that he spoke to Vantage and the company is exploring alternative locations and “actively looking at sites away from existing residential neighborhoods.”
No other locations have been identified yet. In a statement to the Sentinel, a Vantage spokesperson said the company is working with Xcel 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 the statement. “We remain committed to listening to the community and collaborating with local leaders and our partners as we evaluate the best path forward.”
Planning documents show the Trident data center will be around 860,000 square feet and located in Airport District zoning, which allows data centers as a use by right, which means the project can be approved administratively by the city without a public hearing, unless the project is requesting a variance.
While Trident is not requesting a variance, city spokesperson Jennifer Soules previously said the city is working with the developer, Vantage Data Centers, to schedule a community meeting, but a date has not yet been set.
A development application and site plan for the data center were first submitted in August 2025 and the project is on its fourth round of reviews, according to the city. The project’s fourth submission is due by Oct. 26, though the deadline could change because the public meeting must be scheduled first.
In response to the community outrage against the Trident project, Coffman has said he plans to call the Trident data center up for a vote by city council and will ask his colleagues to vote against the project, regardless of the litigation risk.
The data center can’t be called up by the city council until it receives approval, according to Soules.
Meanwhile the City of Aurora is going over the financial cliff.
Beggars can’t be choosy like this. Just flush several Billion in taxable construction materials and hardware. No one will notice when the city’s forced to close more facilities.
The city’s already cutting deep into its Recession Reserve — but we’re not in a recession and the five furlough days are to repeat in 2027.
The three tax increases on the ballot would only cover 13% of the 2 billion the city says it needs for infrastructure.
Just ignore the financial reality and chase away taxable business investment. Way to really crash the city! We really don’t need paved streets, working street lights or fire stations. Just let them crumble.
Keep in mind, Aurora is struggling financially even though the economy is not in a recession.
Just when you thought Aurora couldn’t get any worse.
Fine Jeff. Leave. You are part of the problem. Quit with your lecturing. We laugh at you.