Monterey Park Voters Approve Citywide Data Center Ban by 86.4%
Monterey Park voters backed a citywide ban on new data centers on June 2, with the measure winning 86.4% support against 13.6% opposition in county election results. The tally made Monterey Park the first US city to bar data centers citywide through a voter-approved ballot measure.
The measure targeted a plan to convert a commercial office building on Saturn Street into a data center of nearly 50 megawatts, sized for AI computing demand. Digico Infrastructure REIT and HMC Capital's StratCap, the backers of that project, had pulled their planning application on April 3 as local opposition mounted and regulatory questions grew.
The Monterey Park City Council had already passed an ordinance on April 20 that barred all data centers inside the city. The June vote, cast on Measure NDC, put the prohibition to residents directly.
"This week our city has been celebrating the landslide results from Measure NDC," Mayor Elizabeth Yang said in a phone interview.
Digico is separately selling its Chicago data center for USD 750 million, using the proceeds to cut debt and fund a site in Sydney, according to Climate Home News.
What sets the Monterey Park result apart is the route: residents locked in the ban by direct ballot rather than through a council vote alone. That distinguishes it from the April council ordinance, which took effect without a public vote.
The ballot outcome kept the Saturn Street site closed to data center use even after its backers had withdrawn in April. Residents pressed ahead with Measure NDC to block any future proposal there or elsewhere in the city.
Source: climatechangenews.com (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink