AURORA | Amid continued controversy over Aurora data centers, Mayor Mike Coffman is planning to bring an alternative data center moratorium to city council if a reconsidered proposal is rejected a third time.
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. It is scheduled to be on the Nov. 9 agenda for a third city council vote.
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 Monday 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.
So, Coffman does not get his way and he then looks for ways around the letter of Council procedure while clearly violating the spirit thereof, and why, because residents who bough property too close to a commercial or mixed use zone now want to restrict uses as of right in that zone to enhance their own property values, a right they do not have and a precedent which would be very dangerous. What is to stop other overly entitled idiots from banding together, amking noise, and using that noise to restrict the lawful use of other property around the City. Democracy and good governance is about enforcing order and reasonable expectations. It is not about appeasing the vocal and ignorant minority seeking only their own self interest, something to think about in this instance and the next time the biweekly disruptors appear yet again to seek massive compensation for the deaths of their relatives which they raised and nurtured improperly to prey on the rest of us.
Whole lotta shortsightedness going on by Coffman and the residents (who, incidentally, are being played as pawns by the radical greenies, as well as the CCP) in a culture war. A few things they should consider: Vantage is the proverbial “cow out of the barn.” The Trident data center is compliant to the zoning. The city has approved and advanced it several times. Vantage has invested in good faith towards the completion of this project. Stopping it, as Coffman wants, is an exercise in futility. He risks exposing the city to a massive lawsuit that Aurora will lose. Precedent supports this. That’s not what we need when already operating in a deficit. Irresponsibility like this bankrupts cities. The moratorium and his back-up plan are purely performative or, at best, an attempt to slow-walk the process until a super-majority state legislature swoops in. He knows Xcel cannot guarantee service until Vantage has their plan and specs all in place. Cart before the horse, as they say. These are desperate measures from a desperate man coming into a re-election year against a candidate he barely nosed out last time, thanks to a couple of extra egos splitting the progressive vote. In the meantime, reasonable people are council are taking the shots. They deserve praise for being the only cool heads trying to allow Vantage a chance to solve the imminent issue: a workable solution to move it elsewhere, before unknown feasibility-killing restrictions are invented by a socialist council or legislature. In the meantime, the 55+ers have lost their minds and are on the verge of losing both the battle and the war. They are being distracted by the word “moratorium” as it applies not at all to their problem. If they make it painful enough for Vantage, they’ll ultimately have 1. a data center next door. 2. They, as taxpayers, will be on the hook for a multi-million-dollar settlement. And 3. Aurora will squander the future of a technology, industry, and revenue that we all need. But at least they will have virtual-signaled against those “mean evil” buildings filled with computers. FAFO.