With artificial intelligence and cloud computing driving explosive demand for data processing nationwide, the Anchorage Assembly spent nearly two hours on February 27 examining how to manage potential large-scale data centers before any formal proposals arrive in the city. During a worksession on Ordinance AO 2026-27, members explored amendments to Title 21 of the Anchorage Municipal Code that would define data centers as a distinct land use, restrict them to conditional approval in industrial, port, airport, and public lands zones, and require detailed impact reviews.
The ordinance, introduced by Assembly Vice Chair Anna Brawley and co-sponsored by Assembly Member Daniel Volland, responds to a clear gap in existing code. Current definitions for “data processing facilities” or “warehouses” date to the 1990s and fail to capture modern server farms that can consume electricity equivalent to entire cities while operating with minimal on-site staff.
Brawley, who serves on the National League of Cities’ Energy, Environment and Natural Resources committee, opened the session with a detailed presentation highlighting both opportunities and risks. She noted that data centers range from compact “closet-sized” installations, such as the GreenSpark project collocated at a hydroelectric facility in Cordova, to hyperscale campuses that resemble massive warehouses. These facilities power everything from cloud storage to generative AI models but bring intensive electricity and water demands, continuous cooling noise, potential wastewater contaminants, and on-site backup generators…