San Antonio City Council has at least three options for regulating data centers.
One option is by-right, allowing developers to build data centers in industrial and commercial zones if they meet the necessary conditions.
The second is stricter and requires data centers to be approved individually by City Council. The third option would combine both, with a list of requirements and case-by-case approval by City Council.
Council members discussed the options at a meeting Wednesday and largely fell into two groups: those that wanted data centers to be allowed by-right, once they meet city standards, and council members who want to review and approve each and every data center before its built.
Data center development has proliferated in Texas, with its business-friendly environment, available land and natural resources. City council has been considering regulations on data center development since December.
Those regulations will be presented at a Zoning Commission meeting on Oct. 20 and voted on by City Council on Oct. 29. Community members can comment at both of those meetings.
Council members are considering land-use regulations instead of a moratorium, which did not have enough support to move forward when it came before them in August.
While council members did not vote on Wednesday, a majority leaned toward a specific use authorization — a permit that requires each new data center to be approved by city council.
Amin Tohmaz, the director of the city’s Development Services Department, outlined the first two policy proposals Wednesday.
Option 1 has been on the table since August, when Tohmaz last presented to council members. It includes 500-foot buffers between data centers and homes, schools, hospitals and assisted-living facilities. Data centers would also be prohibited from being built in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone.
If data centers meet those requirements and are in land use zones that are set aside for commercial or industrial use, developers would have the right to build them.
Option 2 gives City Council more control and more flexibility. It requires data centers to get a specific use authorization from the city, which could negotiate with developers to get community-friendly development.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones chose to cut in a third direction, proposing what she called Option 3. Her policy proposal required data centers to seek authorization directly from city council, like Option 2, but it also laid out specific needs, similar to Option 1.
That included 1,000-foot setbacks from the edge of data centers, 45-day notices from data centers before they file plans with the city and two public meetings with community members. Data centers would also have to replace twice as much greenspace as they eliminate, enclose backup generators and submit to air quality monitoring.
As part of the application process, council members would ask for projected energy and water usage and any public benefits.
“We have our water, the fact that we own our power and we have land. We are a very attractive place for these data centers,” Jones said. “So we might as well ask for what we know they can afford.”
At least six council members, a majority, leaned toward the second or third option because they allow council members to approve and negotiate with data centers on a case-by-case basis.
“I do not believe that any by-right for data centers should be allowed in our city,” said Councilman Ric Galvan (D6). “Maintaining specific use authorization is critical, as well. So with that, I ask my colleagues to support either option two or three.”
Galvan first filed a request to discuss data centers last year — his Westside district already has nearly a dozen of the facilities.
“I do not believe it’s just enough for residents to know about a project,” Galvan said. “It’s important for their public officials to also make clear where they stand on the project and to move it forward or not, depending on what the conversations look like.”
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But other council members did not want to risk restricting business.
“I’m definitely leaning towards option one so that there’s some consistency,” said Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7).
Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) agreed with Alderete Gavito. Both also suggested a narrower definition of what a data center is to make sure other facilities weren’t accidentally hit by new rules.
Tohmaz said his department has been working on the policy since Galvan raised the issue last year. Over the summer, Development Services held four meetings with community stakeholders.
Tohmaz said community members were concerned about proximity to neighborhoods and schools, as well as water and power use. Data center developers, for their part, hoped to see stable regulations that would make construction predictable and planning straightforward.
Residents speak up
On Tuesday, several nonprofits hosted a town hall at Northwest Vista College, where several data centers have been built on the far West Side.
Galvan attended and laid out the city’s policy proposals to more than 50 residents, many of whom were concerned about noise, air pollution and the potential impact on home values.
“We’ve been good, we bought our houses and now they’re being devalued,” said Deborah Gutierrez, who lives just outside city limits but has data centers within two miles of her home.
She urged Galvan to advocate for Option 2.
Even residents who were in favor of data centers and improving digital infrastructure wanted construction and operation of the facilities to be responsible.
“It is a viable necessity to modern day industry and business, but it has to be done in a respectable, honorable and an ethical manner. Like any other business, they’re going at for profit. Let them finance their own operations,” said Gary Luft, a San Antonio resident.
The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and Public Citizen, two nonprofit organizations that hosted the town hall, have been organizing community members against data center development. Public Citizen was one of several environmental groups that launched a lawsuit against two San Antonio data centers this year, arguing that there should be stricter pollution controls on facilities that have their own power generation.
State regulation
On Aug. 3, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statewide moratorium on data centers connecting to Texas’ power grid until they can be audited by ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas).
Now, lawmakers could chart a path forward for data centers beyond that moratorium. That could be critical for rural communities or residents outside city limits. Texas cities have land use authority — they can put limits on where and how certain buildings are constructed.
But counties don’t have this authority. That makes it easier for data centers to build just outside city limits. Those types of facilities have gone up at Bexar County’s western edge, where more than $1 billion has been invested in their construction.
“Outside city limits, the counties really don’t have any land use authority. So I also believe that we need to give counties better land use authority when it comes to industry,” said State Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin) on Tuesday night.
Regulating data centers could be dependent on election results this November and what Republicans, who have controlled the Texas Legislature for decades, are willing to do.
State Rep. Josey Garcia (D-San Antonio), who represents parts of the West Side, said she was focused on energy and water use. She added that residents could reach out to her office with issues about individual data centers.
“We need to hold accountable these data centers to be good stewards of the community,” she said “I’d love to work with you to make sure that we can reach out to them and see what we can do to try to mitigate some of those environmental issues.”