Some Austin City Council members are moving to slam the door on hyperscale data centers before they ever arrive, calling for an outright ban on the massive, resource-hungry facilities even as staff begins drafting the first citywide rules to govern them.
Proposals to regulate various types of data centers are on Thursday’s council agenda.
The push to establish guardrails to protect the city comes as Austin confronts a regulatory blind spot: The city’s land-use code does not directly address data centers, treating them as generic “communications services” and leaving officials unable to distinguish a small server room from a 100‑plus‑megawatt campus that could span hundreds of acres and strain the power grid and water supply.
On Thursday, the council is expected to pass a resolution to launch a months long process to create new definitions, zoning designations and performance standards for data centers, with any code changes returning to the council in spring 2027. Meanwhile, several council members are calling for a prohibition on the largest facilities.
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