From:
To:
Subject: Public comment item #2-N
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 2:46:53 PM
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Hello,
My name is B. Deegan and I reside in District 3 of the City of Fresno. I am writing in support of the BAN of AI data centers to be built in Fresno, which council member Richardson has introduced. Data centers have already shown devastating impacts on their environment- from increased heat output (it is so hot here already!), water usage and pollution (a precious resource), extreme noise disturbances, as well as negative impacts on cattle and pollinators (we live in a very important agricultural area), and not to mention how it can negatively impact humans. Why would we want something like that in our city? Please take these facts (and many more I have not listed) about data centers and their negative impacts environment into account when making decisions that affect the current and future residents of Fresno and vote to ban data centers. Thank you.
B. DEEGAN | she/her
Preferred name: Deegan
From:
To:
Subject: Public Comment 9/03/2026 Item # 2N 26-1187
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 4:35:10 PM
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My name is Annette Espinoza, and I live in District 2, is the where I reside.
I am writing in support of the ban on AI data centers in our community. I am aware of the impact that data centers can have on communities. I do not want the noise pollution. We do not need any more electricity being taken up by institutions for their own greed.
Lastly, the Central Valley is the agricultural powerhouse of this country, and my husband’s and my jobs are provided by the agricultural industry. We already have enough issues trying to share water in this state because of the agriculture that goes on here. We do not need to compete with data centers for water as well.
Thank you for hearing my concerns. I also left a voicemail Mike Karbassi’s office Do the right thing for your constituents and neighbors Mike because you have to live here too!
From:
To:
Subject: Public Comment 9/03/2026 Item # 2N 26-1187
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 4:55:47 PM
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My name is Michael Espinoza, District 2 My daughter is
sending this email on my behalf because I am a senior citizen and do not regularly use email. I also left a voicemail at Mike Karbassi’s office I am writing in support of a ban on data centers in our city.
I am concerned about the potential impact of data centers on property values in our city. Many people will not want to purchase homes or live in areas that have large data centers. Noise pollution, enormous amount of water these data centers consume, the strain they place on our electricity supply are not desirable features for choosing a city to sell or purchase a home.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my concerns I hope you will do what is best for our community and protect our water, neighborhoods, and quality of life.
Remember, these greedy corporations won’t get you re-elected, but the voters will hold you accountable if you vote against banning them.
Michael Espinoza
From:
To:
Subject: Public Comment 9/03/2026 Item # 2N 26-1187
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 5:00:12 PM
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My name is Laura Espinoza, District 2
I am writing in support of a ban on AI data centers in our community. These data centers may benefit corporations, but they can come at a significant cost to our community and residents.
We should prioritize the well-being of our citizens, protect our water and electricity resources, and preserve the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
Thank you for listening to the concerns of your constituents and for considering what is best for our community.
Sincerely,
Laura Espinoza
From:
To:
Subject: Public comment 9/03/26 #2N 26-1187
Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 9:35:54 AM
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To whom it may concern,
I am writing to support the BAN on AI data centers in fresno County. Data centers are detrimental to our community. They are structures that destroy our water and land resources.
We are home to lots of farm land and every day citizens. We cannot grow food, or survive in hot temperatures with poison water and destruction of land. The push for AI is disgusting as it prioritizes surveillance and sexual crimes over the well being of our citizens and those who are affected by our food export. I urge you to help protect fresno County. Please help ban AI data centers!!!
Sincerely,
Addison Seagle
INVESTFresnoCA.com
September 3, 2026
Nelson Esparza, President Submitted Electronically
City Council
City of Fresno
2600 Fresno Street
Fresno, CA 93721
RE: ID 26-1187 – Resolution Directing Preparation of a Citywide Data Center Prohibition Dear Council President Esparza and Members of the City Council:
On behalf of INVEST Fresno, a coalition of residents, businesses, and community organizations committed to building a diverse and sustainable economy in Fresno, we write to urge the Council to reconsider the resolution directing staff to prepare a ten-year, and potentially permanent, prohibition on data centers within city limits.
We take seriously the concerns motivating this proposal, particularly the strain that large-scale computing facilities can place on regional water and electrical supply. Those are legitimate engineering and environmental questions. But adopting a categorical, decade-long ban before any project-specific application, environmental review, or local economic analysis has been conducted forecloses a substantial potential source of jobs and tax revenue for Fresno, without first establishing that a full prohibition, rather than site-specific review and mitigation, is the only way to address those concerns.
Data Centers Are a Proven Source of Jobs and Tax Revenue Communities that closely resemble Fresno's own profile have seen substantial fiscal benefit from data center development. In Imperial County, an inland, agricultural California county with one of the state's highest unemployment rates, an independent economic impact analysis of a single proposed data center projected roughly $2.95 billion in economic activity over 30 years and approximately $481 million in net local tax revenue, including $316.7 million from property taxes and $164.6 million from sales taxes. Even after accounting for the added cost of government services tied to the project and its workforce, the county was projected to realize a net fiscal surplus of approximately $373.4 million. The project was also projected to support roughly 1,688 construction jobs annually over a two-year build phase and 100 to 200 permanent operations positions paying $85,000 to $120,000 annually plus benefits.
A state-produced report from the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government reached a similar conclusion at a larger scale: even after accounting for the state's data center tax exemptions, the industry generated a net economic gain, with 28,350 construction-related jobs and 5,471 permanent operations jobs created in 2025, and individual data centers there generating an average of nearly $28 million in annual local property tax revenue. Nationally, an IMPLAN-based analysis of the data center construction industry found it supports approximately 571,000 U.S. jobs and generates $17.8 billion in combined federal, state, and local tax revenue annually.
This dynamic is not abstract for Fresno. In December 2024, the City Council approved a revised property tax revenue-sharing agreement with Fresno County that increased the City's share of new property tax generated on newly annexed land from 38 cents to 40 cents on the dollar. City staff estimated that increase alone is worth several million dollars in additional general fund revenue for every $100 million in newly annexed assessed value. A large capital project sited on land that flows through this framework would add directly to that same revenue stream.
These fiscal benefits are matched by real employment impact, both during construction and over the life of a facility. The construction phase draws heavily on the building trades: an analysis of Southern California data center construction found that a single project supports thousands of high-paying craft and management jobs across electrical, plumbing, sheet metal, low-voltage, civil, structural steel, and specialty trades, with skilled trade wages typically running $40 to $60 an hour, plus ripple effects on local suppliers and service firms. That is consistent with the scale seen elsewhere: the Imperial County analysis projected roughly 1,688 construction jobs annually over a two-year build, and Georgia's 2025 data center construction activity supported 28,350 jobs statewide.
Once operational, a facility supports a smaller but higher-wage, career-track group of permanent positions. The Imperial County analysis estimated 100 to 200 permanent operations jobs per site, paying $85,000 to $120,000 annually plus benefits, and Georgia's operational data center workforce totaled 5,471 jobs statewide in 2025. The Georgia report also noted that these facilities help train the next generation of skilled workers, particularly electricians and HVAC technicians, whose skills carry over into other industries long after a given facility is built. For a workforce like Fresno's, that combination, a substantial construction-phase hiring wave followed by a smaller but well-paying, career-track group of permanent positions, is a meaningful complement to the city's broader workforce and economic development goals.
These figures do not resolve every local question a specific proposal in Fresno would raise about water and power. They do show that treating data centers as categorically undesirable, rather than as a land use to be evaluated project by project, risks giving up meaningful revenue that could otherwise fund city services, without a site-specific record showing that outcome is necessary.
Water Use Varies by Design – New Construction Cutting Water by 90% Agriculture is the foundation of Fresno's economy and the defining industry of the Central Valley.
Nothing in this letter should be read to suggest that agricultural water use is excessive, or that agriculture's water needs are anything but a top priority for this region. Our request is more narrow: that any specific data center proposal be evaluated on its own footprint and design, with the same rigor the city would apply to any large water user, rather than assuming every such project poses the same risk to a water supply that Valley agriculture depends on and that this Council has always rightly protected.
A data center's water footprint depends heavily on its design. Evaporative-cooled facilities can draw 1 to 5 million gallons of water per day at peak summer demand, and one proposed Imperial Valley project would require an estimated 750,000 gallons a day, roughly equivalent to 7,500 households.
However, closed-loop and air-cooled systems, increasingly common in new construction, cut water withdrawal by 90 percent or more, with air-cooled facilities using next to none on-site.
None of this means every proposal is appropriate for the Valley, or that water concerns should be dismissed. It means a project's design and water source, not just the fact that it is a data center, determine its actual impact. AB 2469 and AB 2619 would already require any project proposed in Fresno to disclose its anticipated water source and usage before construction, and SB 887 adds environmental review specific to these facilities. That gives the city and the public real information to evaluate a specific proposal's effect on the Valley's water supply, rather than foreclosing the option entirely before a single project has been proposed or reviewed.
State Legislative Action to Address the Underlying Concerns Importantly, the Council does not need to choose between a categorical ban and unregulated development. In the closing days of its 2026 session, the California Legislature passed a coordinated package of data center bills, awaiting signature by Governor Newsom, built to directly address the water, energy, and grid concerns, rather than prohibiting the industry outright. That package includes:
● SB 886 (Padilla), which directs the California Public Utilities Commission to establish a data center-specific electricity rate so operating costs are not shifted onto residential ratepayers; ● SB 887 (Padilla), which requires environmental impact review specific to data center facilities; ● AB 1577 (Bauer-Kahan), which requires data center operators to report detailed energy usage, including on-site generation, load, and power usage effectiveness, to the California Energy Commission and to local permitting agencies;
● AB 2469 and AB 2619 (Papan), which mandate disclosure of water usage and other resource consumption; and
● AB 2383 (Zbur) and SB 1168 (McNerney), which shift electrical infrastructure costs associated with large energy users, including data centers, away from residential customers and onto the facilities themselves.
Taken together, this state framework treats water and energy impacts as problems to be disclosed, priced, and mitigated at the project level, not as a basis for excluding an entire industry from a city before any specific project has been proposed or reviewed.
Conclusion
We respectfully urge the Council to proceed with caution in regard to the proposed prohibition, and instead allow the standard land-use process, CEQA review, conditional use permitting, and the new state
From:
To:
Subject: Public Comment - NO AI DATA CENTERS
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 10:21:12 PM
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Hello,
We do not want data centers here in Fresno! We need this signed into law. We, the people, do not have a lot of trust in our government and our officials. We do not trust all of our City of FresnoOfficials to keep Ai Data Centers out of our area. If ya’ll sign this into law, it will put the public more at ease.
I have never submitted a public comment before, this is a first. I imagine I’m not the only one.
I think this shows that how much people want this ban.
Sincerely,
A citizen of Fresno
From:
To:
Subject: Public comment 9/03/26#2n26-11187
Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 4:40:29 PM
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To whom it may concern,
I am writing to support the ban on Data Centers. I urge the council to consider the severe impacts it would have on the community.
Best,
Charice Seagle
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