The city of Fort Worth held the first of two public hearings Nov. 10 in regards to a possible moratorium on accepting, processing and approving data center applications.
Council voted to initiate a moratorium process at the Aug. 11 meeting, but the earliest it could be approved is Feb. 23, 2027, according to the presentation.
What they’re saying
The public hearing lasted more than one hour with each speaker in favor of implementing a moratorium on data centers. Before the public hearing, city council received a 156-page report from the Fort Worth Data Center & Infrastructure Commission.
Resident Letitia Wilburn questioned holding the public hearing just an hour after the report from the commission.
“The public hasn’t really had enough time to go through it,” she said.
Other speakers voiced concerns about approving local rules that do not meet state regulations that could be passed or crafted by a new state legislature in 2027.
“I think it’s really incumbent upon us academics to work with our elected officials, not to lecture at them, but to sit down together and say what do we know and what do we need to find out before we make real long-term decisions [about data centers],” said Michael Slattery during the presentation on the findings of the commission.
Zooming out
Of the four existing data centers in Fort Worth, three are in council District 10, according to previous reporting. Another is under construction in council District 7, and there are four proposed data centers in Districts 3, 6, 7 and 8.
The Fort Worth Zoning Commission voted July 8 to deny a proposed ordinance that would restrict where data centers could be located in Fort Worth, according to previous reporting.
On Sept. 21, Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas environmental regulators must stop issuing new permits for data centers, according to previous reporting.
His order expands an existing pause on data center development in the state and stops new data center permits while the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state power grid, conducts an audit of proposed data center projects.
Despite the existing pause, a permit for a $430 million data center in the Alliance area of Fort Worth was filed Sept. 22 with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, according to previous reporting.
Looking ahead
The second public hearing is slated for Jan. 12, a week later than planned earlier this summer. The moratorium on development and permitting could start if passed following a second reading Feb. 23.
If approved in February, a 90-day moratorium would run through May 24, 2027. The city could approve a second 90-day window, but 180 days is the most allowed under state law, Assistant City Manager Jessica McEachern said.
She added the moratorium does not apply to planned or approved projects or projects with zoning applications already submitted. McEachern said that under state law, data centers already in the works can choose to develop under the current standards or they could voluntarily develop to meet the higher standards.
Hannah Norton contributed to this report.
