City Council and Authorities Concurrent, October 6, 2026
Approves Comprehensive approach to updating data center policies, unanimous
What happened
Santa Clara City Council received a staff report on data center policy (responding to Councilmember Jain's 030 request on data center water use and demand-side grid support) and unanimously approved Councilmember Hardy's motion directing staff to pursue a comprehensive policy upd…
- Jurisdiction
- Santa Clara, CA
- Governing body
- Final authority
- Date
- October 6, 2026
- Decisions
- 3 zoning decisions
- Outcome
- Approved, unanimous
Free sample: decision 1 of 3
Comprehensive approach to updating data center policies
The Council considered a staff report on data center policy in response to Councilmember Jain's 030 request. The report noted that SVP has paused new large-load applications since 2023, the city has 58 data centers, each data center is capped at 99 MW, and data centers provided $35.2M in general fund revenue. The Council approved a motion to proceed with the comprehensive approach, with water and air-quality standards brought forward first and health/safety and life-cycle analysis added as categories. Staff's target for completing the full work plan is the end of 2027. Councilmember Hardy said she would seek a moratorium through a separate 030 request; the city attorney said a moratorium would require future agendizing and a four-fifths vote.
- prioritize water and air quality standards for separate earlier action
- add health and safety category
- add life cycle analysis category
The other decisions are listed below by title. The full write-up, verbatim conditions, and the audio at each vote are in Pro.
Meeting Summary
Santa Clara City Council received a staff report on data center policy (responding to Councilmember Jain's 030 request on data center water use and demand-side grid support) and unanimously approved Councilmember Hardy's motion directing staff to pursue a comprehensive policy upd…
Key Decisions (3)
Comprehensive approach to updating data center policies
Affirm pedestrian restrictions on Lawrence and San Tomas Expressways
Stadium Authority financial status report continued
Development Activity (3)
Gateway Crossing Park
Other
Calle del Mundo Park
Other
International Swim Center Rehabilitation
Other
Market Signals (3)
Infrastructure
Silicon Valley Power has not accepted new large-load data center…
Commercial Demand
Eight data centers that cleared SVP system impact studies before…
Other
Data centers now require a Planning Commission conditional use permit,…
Who Spoke (33)
On the record: the mayor, 6 councilmembers, a commissioner, 4 staff members, an attorney, a witness, and 5 members of the public.
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