Mona planners discuss drafting ordinance to limit data centers and large power draws

Commissioners discussed concerns about large data‑center projects and options to limit their location and scale within city limits. Ideas raised included adding a precise legal definition for "data center," listing data centers as not allowed in the use table, imposing a cap on on‑site power generation (example cited: 30 kW), or applying a square‑foot cap to make hyperscale facilities infeasible in town.

Members noted potential workarounds — building power plants outside city limits and delivering power to a facility inside the city — and asked the city attorney to draft ordinance language and enforcement options. Several commissioners supported pursuing definitional clarity and thresholds that would make large data centers impractical to locate inside Mona.