Old Town San Diego, near the Navy's NAVWAR campus, where a large data center was among the uses being explored. Photo: Glen Larson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The San Diego City Council voted unanimously on Oct. 27 to ratify a 45-day moratorium on permitting, approving or building data centers inside city limits, a pause Mayor Todd Gloria first ordered on Oct. 22 after a proposal surfaced for a large facility near Old Town. KPBS, in a City News Service report that day, said the moratorium could later be extended for nearly two years if the council chooses, and that city staff have 180 days to bring preliminary recommendations guided by a new Data Center Stakeholder Working Group. In a statement the same day, Gloria called the vote “a necessary and responsible step” and said the pause would let the city assess effects on water, electricity demand and costs, housing, infrastructure and neighborhoods “before any data center development could move forward, within the City’s jurisdiction.”
The immediate prompt was a concept from Manchester Financial Group for a 400-megawatt data center at the Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Systems Command campus, known as NAVWAR, near Old Town, KPBS reported. The story said such a facility would use enough energy to power about 300,000 homes a year and would be the largest in California. Ted Eldredge, the company’s president and CEO, told KPBS the data center was one of several ideas and that nothing had been finalized. In a statement quoted by KPBS, he said Manchester’s priority is “delivering modern facilities for NAVWAR” and that retail, commercial, industrial, hospitality, a medical center, a university campus, a defense campus, a data center and a life-science facility were all being explored.
Because NAVWAR is federal land, several council members said a city moratorium is mostly symbolic for that site, KPBS reported. Council President Joe LaCava said San Diegans were “clear, unambiguous and passionate about why data centers don’t belong in San Diego.” Councilmember Raul Campillo said, “The costs dramatically outweigh any benefits in the current environment.” Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said, “San Diego needs more affordable housing, not more computer servers.” Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee said NAVWAR should be used for transit-oriented housing, including for service members.
Gloria’s written statement did not mention the Manchester proposal by name. It did say the planning department was directed to convene a working group of technology, utility, water, housing and land-use experts to recommend rules on where, and whether, data centers could be built in the city. The 45-day clock, and the 180-day deadline for first recommendations, are the dates on the calendar now.
