The Oneonta Common Council reviewed, but didn’t take any action on, a draft of a moratorium on building data centers in the city Tuesday, May 5.
Scott Harrington, R-Sixth Ward and acting mayor at the meeting, said the local law would need to be laid seven days before the next council meeting.
City Administrator Greg Mattice said the city would need to conduct a SEQR review, so that time frame would likely be expanded. With that in mind, Harrington said, the council probably would not take action regarding the law until its first meeting of June.
The draft of the local law to establish the moratorium stated that its aim is to “temporarily suspend the acceptance, processing and approval of applications for certain high-density data processing facilities” to give the city time to study its potential impacts on infrastructure, environment and land use planning.
The moratorium was initially discussed by the Quality of Life and Infrastructure Committee. Committee Chairperson Elayne Mosher Campoli, D-First Ward, said this was a tool the city could use the study the issue more in depth.
“The idea here is that we want to be proactive instead of reactive, because we have seen other communities be reactive,” Mosher Campoli said.
She added that two developers have expressed some interest to Otsego Now, an economic development group, about potential data center projects in the railyards.
Kaytee Lipari Shue, D-Fourth Ward, asked about the definition of a high-density data processing facility included in the local law, which referred to “any building, structure, or portion thereof primarily used for the housing of computer servers.” She asked if this would apply to any existing facilities in the city, like the colleges or high school.
City Attorney David Merzig said this would not apply to servers located at private property already, only to the construction of new facilities. He added that this would establish a moratorium for granting permits, the purpose of which is to put local regulations in place. Merzig said it is better to be more comprehensive rather than making it too specific in this case.
Lipari Shue said that because there are existing buildings housing servers in the city, somebody looking to put forth an application could take issue with the city’s moratorium.
Merzig said if it is a legal moratorium, he does not care how it is received.
“Let them sue the city,” Merzig said. “Anyone can sue the city for any reason.”
“We want to make it as broad as possible,” he continued.
Cecelia Walsh-Russo, D-Second Ward, said she would like further details regarding how the county’s interactions with potential data center developers. She asked if council members would be interested in meeting with Otsego Now representatives about the paths they are looking at to pursue these options.
Don Mathisen, D-Eighth Ward, said larger data centers require 100 megawatts of electricity and would use about 5 million gallons of water a day. He said, for these reasons, it was unlikely the city would ever house a large data center.
Oneonta could, however, be attractive to companies and businesses that use AI, including higher education, medical and life sciences, transportation logistics, solar power and the glass industry. He said Oneonta has all of these businesses aside from transportation. The railyards could attract transportation and logistics companies, Mathisen said.
He said a moratorium could send a negative message to businesses that use AI that would pay taxes.
“I don’t think we should shoot ourselves in the foot by saying we don’t want AI data centers with a moratorium,” Mathisen said. “We really don’t want them, and it is unlikely we will get applications for large ones, but we don’t want to send a message to the AI businesses that we don’t want you.”
Mosher Campoli said the concerns Mathisen named about water and electricity usage are exactly why the city needs the moratorium.
“Right now, we have no regulations around this,” she said
Harrington said the moratorium would not be a way for the council to take a stance on data centers, but rather a way for it to “position the city to be able to handle potential growth.”
Mathisen asked the council again to consider that the moratorium could isolate industries that use AI.
Lipari Shue, said her constituents largely stand against an AI data center operating in the city. If the city were to consider allowing the operation of a data center, she added, she would want to have a balanced understanding of how the city would manage the facility and how it could impact the community.
“If there is any prospect of a business like this coming in, it needs to be a really thoughtful thing,” Lipari Shue said.
In the absence of state and federal leadership on this issue, it is up to the city to provide its own guidance and regulations, Walsh-Russo said. These are serious projects regarding possible impacts on energy and local infrastructure, she said.
“Warning labels are created by people who thought it would never happen,” said Shannon McHugh, D-Third Ward. “I don’t want us to be a warning label.”