Aurora staff recommends holding data-center and warehouse moratorium together; final rules due before March deadline

City staff told the Committee of the Whole that it will keep data centers and warehouses under a single temporary moratorium while drafting clearer definitions and new planning standards to address resident complaints and technical impacts.

"We promised you all a three-month update on where we were with a moratorium for data centers and warehouses," said John Curley, chief development services officer, summarizing staff work on outreach, comparative regulations, and a parcel-level inventory. Curley said staff will propose a set of definitions and performance standards — covering architectural design, noise and energy or water studies — for council consideration before the moratorium lapses.

Why it matters: council members and staff described rapid interest from developers and inconsistent regulations across municipalities. Staff materials and discussion noted that a lack of clear local definitions and front-end planning requirements had led to community complaints. The presentation mapped ORI, M1 and M2 parcels larger than five acres and identified likely parcels where data centers could be proposed.

Staff timeline and scope: the moratorium was adopted on Sept. 25 and the six-month administrative window ends in March; staff told the council it aims to deliver draft regulatory proposals and run them through two committee reviews in time to avoid special meetings. Curley said the city has allowed a conditional application and hardship appeal process so projects already mid-process can continue under new prospective rules; staff identified several hardship approvals that progressed through the appeals process and were ultimately approved by council.

Technical and policy issues under consideration include parking standards, landscape buffers, limits on evaporative cooling that could discharge to sanitary systems, noise controls, and whether applicants should be required to submit energy- or ratepayer-impact studies. Curley said the smallest data-center footprints the city is seeing are roughly 5 to 7 acres and that staff is surveying national and regional best practices to ensure standards are technically feasible.

A council member asked whether Chicago or the State of Illinois had taken action; staff said Chicago has delayed a decision and the state is working on guidance, and staff is in communication with those efforts. The presentation also referenced outreach with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and the Illinois chapter of the American Planning Association.

What the council decided: after questions the council did not vote on an immediate amendment; staff will return with draft proposals for committee review and eventual council consideration ahead of the moratorium expiration.

Next step: staff will complete remaining technical research and merchant outreach and present recommended ordinance language to the council’s committees and then to the full council for final action.