By Jennifer Sawhney

Two Petaluma City Council members sought to schedule a future discussion about a moratorium on AI-powering data centers during the Monday night meeting, but that won’t pan out as they intended.

However, council members do plan to address zoning considerations around data centers in Petaluma in the coming months.

Council members Alex DeCarli and John Shribbs wanted to add to a tentative future agenda a discussion about putting a moratorium on data centers in the city. They cited concerns around high water usage, the destruction of agricultural lands, and worries about a California company called Global Stack LLC that has been pitching cities to build data centers on their fairgrounds properties.

During the discussion, it was noted that in the next few months city leaders are already planning to review the Implementing Zoning Ordinance – which governs land use, development standards, and design consistency with the General Plan – and that this will provide an opportunity for them to address policies around data centers (see below for more details on ongoing public meetings).

City Manager Peggy Flynn said city staff are already preparing for the zoning code updates and it will be possible for them to address data centers at that time.

City Attorney Eric Danly said that the city already does not allow for large, standalone data centers. While an applicant could apply for an exception, it would be subject to an environmental review and the city council ultimately has the final word on the decision, he said.

To enact a moratorium, Danly said, the city would need to identify a present risk. Given there are no pending applications for a data center, there is no particular urgency around the discussion, he said.

For the most part, the council opposed large data centers, but both Shribbs and Council Member Brian Barnacle brought up the desire to consider nuances around the topic and possible smaller-scale facilities.

Shribbs said he uses AI frequently – even using it to prepare for that night’s meeting – and pointed to its growing popularity, noting that there is a need to consider the broader context of data centers.

A growing number of municipalities across the country are pushing back against new data centers, which opponents criticize for their significant energy and water use, noise generation, and other environmental impacts.

In late June, Calistoga residents effectively shot down a data center proposal at the city’s fairgrounds property. The proximity of that proposal to Petaluma wasn’t lost on DeCarli who has remained steadfast in his support of preserving agricultural lands, and urged his colleagues to be proactive.

During their comments, Shribbs and DeCarli claimed two small data centers already operate in Petaluma. One of the companies, named X2N, moves data wirelessly or through satellite to larger data centers and does not store it, according to Jena Blazer, vice president of operations. Petaluma Voice could not reach the second company to confirm its operations.

The city council voted 6-1 to keep the tentative future agenda as is, with DeCarli opposed. Shribbs gave a “reluctant” yes to the vote, despite proposing to discuss it sooner than later.