ORDINANCE NO. ___________
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA, PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 65858, AMENDING, RESTATING, AND SUPERSEDING URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 13-26 N.S. AND EXTENDING FOR 22 MONTHS AND 15 DAYS THE TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DATA CENTERS WITHIN THE CITY OF
RICHMOND, PENDING COMPLETION OF A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE
CITY'S GENERAL PLAN, ZONING ORDINANCE, AND RELATED LAND USE
REGULATIONS AND A PUBLIC PLANNING PROCESS TO EVALUATE WHETHER
AND UNDER WHAT REGULATIONS DATA CENTERS MAY BE PERMITTED, AND
DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF
WHEREAS, the increasing demand for data centers associated with the expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud computing has resulted in growing development interest throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, warranting careful evaluation of the potential impacts on local land use, electricity demand, water resources, infrastructure, and community priorities before these facilities are approved; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that the increasing interest in data center development may have significant implications for electricity demand, water resources, public infrastructure, land use compatibility, noise, air quality, aesthetics, and other factors affecting the public health, safety, and welfare of Richmond residents that warrant further study before data centers are established within the City; and WHEREAS, the City is evaluating whether its General Plan and Zoning Ordinance adequately regulate data centers as a distinct land use; and WHEREAS, the City's Zoning Ordinance does not contain land use regulations specifically addressing data centers or standards to evaluate and mitigate their potential impacts, including but not limited to energy consumption, water demand, noise, air quality, visual character, neighborhood compatibility, and other effects on surrounding properties and the quality of life of Richmond residents; and WHEREAS, data centers differ from traditional industrial and office uses because they may involve substantial electrical infrastructure, emergency backup generation, battery energy storage systems, cooling infrastructure, utility demands, operational noise, and other characteristics not specifically addressed by existing City regulations; and WHEREAS, a temporary moratorium will provide the City with time to undertake a public planning process to determine whether data centers should be permitted within Richmond and, if so, consider appropriate amendments to the General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, and other applicable regulations to ensure that future data center development is consistent with the City's planning objectives and community priorities; and
WHEREAS, on September 15, 2026, following notice given under Government Code section 65090 and a public hearing, and by a four-fifths vote, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 13-26 N.S. under Government Code section 65858(b), establishing a 45-day moratorium on new data centers, which will expire on October 30, 2026; and
WHEREAS, at least 10 days before the expiration of Ordinance No. 13-26 N.S., the City issued the written report required by Government Code section 65858(d), describing the measures the City has taken to alleviate the conditions that led to the moratorium, and that report is incorporated in the record; and
WHEREAS, the City Council now amends, restates, and supersedes Ordinance No. 13- 26 N.S. through this single ordinance and, under Government Code section 65858(b), extends the moratorium once for 22 months and 15 days—the longest single extension the statute allows for an interim ordinance adopted after notice and a public hearing—so that the moratorium remains in effect through and including September 15, 2028, unless terminated earlier; and
WHEREAS, notice of the public hearing on this ordinance was given under Government Code section 65090, and the City Council held that hearing before adopting this ordinance; and
WHEREAS, data center development is active and accelerating in the San Francisco Bay Area, and as of September 17, 2026, the Cities of Pittsburg, Hayward, and Gilroy have each approved a major data center project—Pittsburg approving a project involving the AVAIO-affiliated Pittsburg Data Hub, LLC and AVAIO Digital; Hayward approving a project involving STACK Infrastructure; and Gilroy approving a project involving Amazon Data Services—demonstrating that data center approvals in comparable Bay Area cities are current and ongoing, not speculative; and WHEREAS, Bay Area cities are responding to this development pressure through land use controls, and as of September 17, 2026, the Cities of Oakley, Gilroy, and Richmond have adopted temporary citywide moratoria on new data center development, the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland have moratorium proposals pending, and the City of Hayward has adopted enhanced review requirements for future projects rather than a moratorium, while staff has not identified any permanent citywide data center prohibition adopted by a Bay Area municipality; and
WHEREAS, Article XI, section 7 of the California Constitution authorizes the City to make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances not in conflict with general laws; and
WHEREAS, the City of Richmond is a charter city, and Article II, section 1, subdivision 6 of the Richmond City Charter empowers the City to exercise the police power, to make all necessary police and sanitary regulations, and to adopt ordinances and prescribe penalties for their violation; and
WHEREAS, Article II, section 1, subdivisions 23 and 24 of the Richmond City Charter grant the City all other needful powers for the efficient administration of the municipal government and direct that this grant of power be liberally construed to secure the wellbeing of the City and its inhabitants; and WHEREAS, Article IX, section 10 of the Richmond City Charter confirms the City's power to make and enforce all laws and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, and land use and zoning within the City are municipal affairs; and WHEREAS, Government Code section 38771 authorizes the City to declare by ordinance what constitutes a nuisance, and the City's authority to abate nuisances through its police power is well established (see Civ. Code §§ 3479, 3480; People ex rel. Gallo v. Acuna (1997) 14 Cal.4th 1090); and
WHEREAS, Government Code sections 36937 and 65858 authorize the City Council to adopt an urgency measure and an interim ordinance that prohibit uses that may conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal when necessary to protect against a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare while the City studies whether and under what regulations to allow data center development; and
WHEREAS, Government Code section 65858, subdivision (c), provides that the City Council may adopt or extend an interim ordinance only if the ordinance contains legislative findings that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare, and that the approval of additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building permits, or any other applicable entitlement would result in that threat; and
WHEREAS, under Article III, section 7 of the Richmond City Charter and Government Code sections 36937 and 65858, both the adoption and the extension of this urgency ordinance require the affirmative vote of at least four-fifths of the City Council.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of Richmond does hereby ordain as follows:
SECTION 1: That the above recitals are true and correct and are adopted as the City Council’s findings.
SECTION 2: Purpose and Authority.
To protect the health, safety, and welfare of Richmond residents, this ordinance amends, restates, and supersedes Urgency Ordinance No. 13-26 N.S. and continues, in a single ordinance, the temporary moratorium on the issuance of any new permit, license, or other entitlement for any data center in the City of Richmond. The City Council adopts this ordinance under Article XI, section 7 of the California Constitution; Article II, section 1, subdivisions 6, 23, and 24, and Article IX, section 10 of the Richmond City Charter; and Government Code sections 36937 and 65858, subdivision (b), as an urgency measure that prohibits any use that may conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal that the City is studying.
SECTION 3: Findings.
A. Data centers present operational characteristics materially different from traditional office, warehouse, research and development, and industrial uses, including but not limited to significant electrical infrastructure demands, emergency backup generation, battery energy storage systems, specialized cooling infrastructure, operational noise, utility demand, and other land use characteristics requiring careful evaluation.
B. The City Council finds that the City's current zoning regulations do not establish a distinct land use classification or development standards governing the establishment and operation of data centers.
C. The City has initiated a planning effort to evaluate whether amendments to the General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, development standards, infrastructure and utility policies, environmental review procedures, and related regulations are appropriate to regulate data centers within Richmond or, alternatively, whether such uses should be prohibited.
D. The City Council finds that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare. Data center approvals are presently occurring in comparable Bay Area cities, as the recent approvals in Pittsburg, Hayward, and Gilroy show (see findings J and K). The same development pressure reaches Richmond. Absent this moratorium, an operator could file, and the City could process, approve, and vest, an application for a data center under the City's existing regulations, which do not specifically address the operational, environmental, infrastructure, and public-safety characteristics of these uses. The City Council further finds that the approval of additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building permits, or any other applicable entitlement for a data center during the City's study would result in that threat.
E. Data centers may impose large, concentrated, and continuous electrical loads and may require upgrades to substations, transformers, transmission or distribution facilities, and backup generation systems. The City has not yet completed the technical and policy review necessary to determine whether and under what conditions such demands can be accommodated without adversely affecting grid reliability, infrastructure capacity, emergency operations, or existing utility customers.
F. Data centers may also involve substantial potable or recycled water demand, cooling and wastewater infrastructure, lithium-ion batteries, fuel storage, emergency generators, hazardous materials, and continuous mechanical equipment. The City has not yet adopted data-center-specific standards addressing water efficiency and drought response, fire and hazardous-materials response, noise, air quality, heat, vibration, and compatibility with nearby residential and other sensitive uses.
G. The City Council further finds that it must complete the public planning study described in this ordinance before it can decide whether to permit data centers and, if it allows them, before it can adopt permanent regulations governing where data centers may locate and how they must operate within the City.
H. The City Council finds that data centers may harm property values, neighborhood character, and the quality of life in the City's neighborhoods, and that other, less intensive or more community-serving uses may be more appropriate for the City's limited developable land. These effects on health, safety, welfare, aesthetics, and property values are matters the City may regulate under its police power and under Article II, section 1 of the Richmond City Charter.
I. The City Council finds that the operation of a data center that is established without the study and regulations contemplated by this ordinance may create conditions that are injurious to health, offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of nearby property, and that the City may declare and abate such conditions as a public nuisance under Government Code section 38771 and Civil Code sections 3479 and 3480.
J. Data center development is active and accelerating in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of September 17, 2026, the City has confirmed that the City of Pittsburg has approved a major data center project involving the AVAIO-affiliated Pittsburg Data Hub, LLC and AVAIO Digital; the City of Hayward has approved a major data center project involving STACK Infrastructure; and the City of Gilroy has approved a major data center project involving Amazon Data Services. These recent approvals show that data center approvals in comparable Bay Area cities are current and ongoing, not speculative.
K. Bay Area cities are actively using land use controls to respond to this development pressure. As of September 17, 2026, the Cities of Oakley, Gilroy, and Richmond have adopted temporary citywide moratoria on new data center development; the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland have moratorium proposals pending; and the City of Hayward has adopted enhanced review requirements for future projects rather than a moratorium. The City has not identified any permanent citywide data center prohibition adopted by a Bay Area municipality. This pattern confirms both the regional development pressure and the reasonableness of a temporary moratorium while the City studies the use.
L. The City Council relies on the whole record before it, including the staff report that accompanies this ordinance, the written report issued under Government Code section 65858(d), and the studies and jurisdictional research the City has reviewed— including studies on the water, power, and noise implications of data centers published by the Lawrence Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, and research on data center regulations in other jurisdictions.
M. The City Council finds that the requested term is reasonable. Completing the public planning study—including public outreach, consultant-led analysis, a Planning Commission hearing, and two City Council hearings—cannot be accomplished within the initial 45-day period. The full 22-month-and-15-day extension the statute allows is a reasonable period in which to complete that work and adopt permanent regulations.
Considering these findings and all evidence in the record, including the staff report that accompanies this urgency ordinance, the City Council finds that this moratorium is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety, and welfare and meets the requirements of Government Code sections 36937 and 65858 and the Richmond City Charter.
Section 4: California Environmental Quality Act.
A. Not a project. This ordinance continues an existing temporary moratorium and preserves the status quo. It authorizes no development and no physical activity. It will not cause a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. This ordinance is therefore not a "project" under the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"). (Pub. Resources Code, § 21065; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, §§ 15060(c),(2)(3);), 15378.) B. Common sense exemption. Even if this ordinance were a project, it is exempt under the common sense exemption. Based on the whole record before the City Council, including the staff report, the report issued under Government Code section 65858(d), and the studies and jurisdictional research described in the findings, the City Council finds that it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that this ordinance may have a significant effect on the environment. By maintaining the status quo and temporarily prohibiting new data centers, this ordinance prevents, rather than causes, physical change in the environment. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15061(b)(3).) C. Notice of exemption. The City Clerk, or a designee, must file a notice of exemption for this ordinance with the Contra Costa County Clerk, consistent with these findings. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15062.)
Section 5: Definitions.
In this ordinance, the following definitions apply:
A. "Data center" means a building, dedicated space within a building, or group of structures used to house a large group of networked computer systems for the remote storage, processing, or distribution of large amounts of data for off-site or on-site users.
A data center includes uses commonly described as colocation services, artificialintelligence model training or inference, high-performance computing, blockchain operations, digital-asset mining, and cryptocurrency mining. A data center may also include air handlers, power generators, fuel storage, water cooling and storage facilities, utility substations, back-up batteries, fire-suppression systems, enhanced security features, and other associated utility infrastructure that supports its operations.
B. "Associated data room" or "server room" means an enclosed room, suite, or other accessory space that contains computer servers, data-storage equipment, networkswitching equipment, telecommunications equipment, and related supporting equipment, including cooling, electrical, back-up power, and security systems, that is used solely in conjunction with, and is incidental and subordinate to, a lawfully established primary use on the same lot or site. An associated data room or server room must remain physically and operationally subordinate to that primary use. It may not be used for independent commercial, wholesale, or third-party data processing, storage, or transmission, and it is not a data center, server farm, colocation facility, or other prohibited digital-infrastructure use for purposes of this ordinance.
Section 6: Application.
A. During the term of this ordinance, no person may establish, construct, convert, or expand a data center in any zoning district or on any land within the City of Richmond.
The City must not approve or issue any application for a use permit, variance, building permit, license, certificate of occupancy, subdivision map, parcel map, tentative map, general plan amendment, zone change, specific plan, development agreement, site plan review, grading permit, or other permit or land use entitlement for a data center.
B. This moratorium does not apply to an associated data room or server room, as defined in this ordinance.
C. A person who, as of the effective date of this ordinance, lawfully holds an existing permit, license, or land use entitlement for a data center that is lawfully operating in the City of Richmond may continue to operate under the standards that govern that permit, license, or entitlement under existing law. This ordinance does not limit the City's authority to revoke or suspend any existing license, permit, or entitlement as authorized under existing law.
Section 7: Term of Ordinance.
This ordinance amends, restates, and supersedes Urgency Ordinance No. 13-26 N.S. It extends the moratorium, under Government Code section 65858(b), for a single period of 22 months and 15 days measured from the October 30, 2026 expiration of Ordinance No. 13-26 N.S. The moratorium remains in effect through and including September 15, 2028, and expires at midnight on that date unless the City Council terminates it earlier.
This term is the longest single extension Government Code section 65858 allows for an interim ordinance adopted after notice and a public hearing, and the moratorium will not remain in effect for more than two years in total.
Section 8: No Mandatory Duty of Care.
This ordinance does not impose, and must not be construed to impose, on the City or any of its officers or employees a mandatory duty of care toward persons or property inside or outside the City that would create a basis for civil liability for damages, except as otherwise required by law.
Section 9: Severability.
If a court holds any provision of this ordinance, or its application to any person or circumstance, invalid, that invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application. To this end, the provisions of this ordinance are severable. The City Council declares that it would have adopted this ordinance regardless of the invalidity of any portion of it, and it intends that the invalid portions be severed and the balance of the ordinance be enforced.
Section 10: Effective Date and Publication.
This ordinance, passed by at least a four-fifths vote of the City Council as required by Article III, section 7 of the Richmond City Charter and Government Code sections 36937 and 65858, is an urgency ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety. It takes effect and must be enforced immediately upon adoption. The City Clerk must certify the passage of this ordinance and must cause the ordinance, or a summary of it, to be published or posted as required by Government Code section 36933.
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I hereby certify that the foregoing Urgency Ordinance of the City Council of Richmond was duly passed and adopted at a regular meeting thereof held October XX, 2026 by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTENTION:
______________________________
Clerk of the City of Richmond
(SEAL)
Approved:
_________________________
Mayor
Approved as to form:
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City Attorney