Residents who spoke at the City Council's last required public hearing on a data center moratorium Tuesday night asked for the pause, and none spoke against it, KRLD radio reported. More than two dozen people addressed the council during the hearing, according to the station.
The council also held the first reading of the moratorium ordinance the same night, a step that city staff said required no action. The decision comes Dec. 1, when the ordinance returns for a second reading. Under the Texas Local Government Code it can take effect only with the votes of at least three-fourths of the full council.
What the pause would cover
As drafted, the ordinance would stop the city from accepting applications, issuing permits or granting approvals for data centers for 90 days. It would reach beyond the city limits to the areas where Denton provides water and wastewater service and to the territory served by Denton Municipal Electric.
Applications filed before the moratorium is adopted could not be halted, because state vested-rights rules protect them, staff wrote in the agenda information sheet. A developer could also ask for a waiver by pointing to an existing development agreement or by paying to supply the public facilities the city says are lacking.
The council could extend the pause once, for another 90 days, after a separate hearing. A staff timeline puts that hearing in March and the latest possible end date at May 31. Once it expires, state law bars the city from imposing another data center moratorium on the same area for two years.
Staff's reasons
The ordinance cites three state grounds for a pause. Denton's two water plants can treat up to 48 million gallons a day, and peak-day demand has reached 42.2 million, leaving a 5.8-million-gallon cushion. The Pecan Creek wastewater plant, rated for 21 million gallons a day, has handled 25.7 million on peak days, a deficit of 4.7 million gallons.
On the electric side, the utility has roughly 75 megawatts of capacity available at transmission voltage but no process for taking in, reviewing and lining up data center requests, according to the ordinance. Staff also said the code amendments adopted Oct. 13, which took effect Tuesday, set broad rules on cooling and utility studies but lack the technical detail needed to enforce them.
