Mount Vernon, Washington, adopted a six-month data center moratorium on Wednesday, Aug. 12, before receiving a single project proposal. Council member Andrew Vander Stoep was the sole dissenting voice, while city staff confirmed that no data center applications were pending, according to local reporting.
The measure does not prohibit an existing development or stop construction already underway. It temporarily prevents new applications from becoming vested under rules that were not written with large data centers in mind.
A useful contrast exists in unincorporated Mobile County, Alabama, where Beacon Data Centers describes a proposed $6 billion Calvert Infrastructure Hub. Mobile County’s own planning department states that unincorporated areas have no zoning, although the county still conducts commercial site-plan review and issues building permits…