City Of Ellensburg Enacts Six-Month Moratorium On New Data Centers

The City of Ellensburg has become the latest Central Washington community to place a temporary moratorium on the construction of new data centers.

The Ellensburg Daily Record reports in a unanimous vote this week, the Ellensburg City Council established the six-month emergency ban on new data center proposals within the city limits of Ellensburg.

The decision followed a brief presentation by Community Development Director Dan Carlson with little discussion on the matter by the Council afterward.

Carlson's report to the Council detailed that modern data centers have been given no distinct definition of use by the City's current building, development, permitting, and zoning regulations.

The Council agreed with Carlson's assessment that such facilities come with the potential for large construction footprints and significant demands for electricity, and noted the concerns of many within the community regarding their potential impacts on water supplies, noise pollution, and other possible nuisances.

The moratorium went into effect immediately following the Council's vote and will remain in place until April 5, 2027. During which time, Carlson advised the Council to properly and thoroughly evaluate all of the City's development, permitting, and zoning procedures, as well as its processes for environmental review, and to allow opportunities for more community input regarding the building of any new data centers within the city limits.

The decision comes less than three months after the City of Cle Elum and Kittitas County both enacted six-month moratoriums on new data centers in their jurisdictions, with Cle Elum's following the proposal of a $200 million, 100,000-square-foot facility from Blue Fern Development within its city limits.

Calls from citizens for a statewide moratorium on new data center construction were echoed Sunday as part of a "Day of Action" in numerous cities and towns throughout Washington, including at the Kittitas County Courthouse in Ellensburg.