By John Dobberstein, Editor
The Broken Arrow City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a moratorium on data center proposals while city officials study the developments more in depth.
The moratorium goes into effect immediately and prevents any land use development applications for a proposed data center being accepted for 6 months, with an option to extend it another 6 months if needed. It will otherwise expire on Dec. 31.
The moratorium does provide a means for an appeal before the city’s Board of Adjustment if they want to test the city’s moratorium.
The decision comes after a letter of intent (LOI) agreement expired between the private property owner and a prospective company for the purchase of 52 acres in east Broken Arrow for a potential data center. The company behind the proposal was never revealed publicly.
At the time, Spurgeon said he wouldn’t be surprised if another data center proposal eventually surfaced in Broken Arrow. Similar developments have been proposed in Owasso, Tulsa, Coweta, Sand Springs and Claremore.
Beale Infrastructure pulled out of a data center proposal in Coweta earlier this year that was the subject of much controversy due to transparency concerns expressed by residents.
During the moratorium the city will study all potential impacts data centers can have on communities — including, electrical consumption and potential rate impacts on surrounding customers, water demand, noise generation and traffic.
The city also wants to study tax exemptions granted at the state level, and any increased demands on public infrastructure.
The city’s zoning ordinance, which was just recently overhauled, does not specify a data center as a use, so the pause would provide the City Council and city staff to review the zoning regulations, “to best determine the appropriate zoning designation for a data center.”
Many cities across Oklahoma have been discussing or have already approved moratoriums, including Edmond and Oklahoma City.
Spurgeon says the moratorium will give the city a chance to do due diligence and come up with recommendations that set forth ordinances, guidelines and land-use development codes should the City Council decide to have a specific designation for data centers.
“One of the things I’m most concerned about is protecting the long-term interests of Broken Arrow,” he said. “While we have gathered a considerable amount of information, there are still some important questions that need to be answered.”
He added the moratorium is about conducting a study — “it’s not about opposition. This recommendation should not be interpreted as being for or against data centers. The purpose is to pause and ensure that we have the facts, policies, and regulations necessary to make an informed decision.”
Spurgeon added he would also recommend the city host some type of public forum so the public can receive updates on the study and get questions answered.
Leanne Jackson of Broken Arrow, who is a beekeeper, said she has been opposed to data centers and is concerned about the environment, but she’s supportive of the city studying the projects further.
“I’m opposed to the AI data centers from everything I’ve read. I knew they were supposed to be more beneficial to big corporations or entities like the police or hospitals or airports,” she said. “I can see how they can be helpful, but I still think it’s going to be terrible for the environment, and I worry about our water and my electric bill.”
Mike Sanders, a professional engineer from Broken Arrow who said he does design work on very large data centers, said it’s a misconception that every data center pulls energy off the grid.
Companies such as Meta, Amazon or Google are self-contained and bring their own gas turbines, battery storage and solar cells because they can’t handle power fluctuations off the grid, he explained.
“And they don’t consume some ridiculous amount of water. The water they do give back is cleaner than your drinking water because they run it through a (cleaning) system,” Sanders said. “They do make noise, I’m not going to argue that one. You can do noise abatement. They don’t cause water pollution. People are saying they pollute the rivers. They don’t have that ability.”
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