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Aurora's council fell one vote short of reopening an indefinite pause on new data center applications. It would not have covered Vantage's Trident project, which Vantage says is designed for 334 MW.
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The vote was on suspending council rules, not on the moratorium, which was never debated or voted on, according to Denver7 and Sentinel Colorado.
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Aurora's City Council blocked a vote on an indefinite data center moratorium late Monday, Oct. 26, when a motion to suspend its rules failed 6-5, one short of the seven votes needed, Denver7 reported.
The Oct. 26 vote was on suspending the rules, not on the moratorium, and Sentinel Colorado puts the mayor's next attempt at Nov. 9.
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Mayor Mike Coffman and Council Members Alison Coombs, Gianina Horton, Alli Jackson, Ruben Medina and Amy Wiles voted yes, according to Sentinel Colorado. Rob Andrews, Françoise Bergan, Curtis Gardner, Stephanie Hancock and Angela Lawson voted no. Because the council rejected a six-month version on Aug. 10, bringing the issue back required suspending the rules, and the moratorium itself was never debated. The Denver Gazette put the threshold at two-thirds. Coffman, who broke a 5-5 tie against the six-month version, now backs an indefinite pause after seeing the Trident site, CBS Colorado reported.
The city's agenda lists the measure as Resolution R2026-111, a moratorium on accepting or processing development applications where a data center is a proposed primary use. It had no end date, and Coffman told Denver7 that projects already in the system would keep moving. City officials told Sentinel Colorado it would not have covered Vantage Data Centers' Trident project at its current site or any new one, because the city has already accepted that application.
That leaves the known pipeline outside the pause. Vantage's Mark Freeman told The Denver Post that Trident, at E-470 and East 48th Avenue, is designed to use 334 MW of electric power; the Post noted Denver International Airport uses 45 MW. Area residents have cited about 500 MW, The Denver Gazette reported. The reports do not say whether 334 MW is critical IT load or utility supply, and building size varies from 860,000 square feet in the Post to 1.5 million in developer filings cited by the Gazette. The Gazette also reported on Oct. 1 that a second proposal, the Aerotropolis Logistics Center, lists about 500 acres of data centers and no power figure. Denver7 reported in August that the city has no authority over energy impacts, which run through the Public Utilities Commission and Xcel Energy, and Gardner argued that not all open land in Aurora has the power infrastructure for a data center.
At a study session, six members voted to send Wiles's residential buffer to planning and zoning review and four objected, Sentinel Colorado reported. Data centers would be banned within 750 feet of homes, need conditional approval and a public hearing out to a half mile, and be allowed by right beyond that in zones that already permit them. Wiles said it could take effect in February at the earliest. City Attorney Pete Schulte said it would not apply to existing applications, and a relocated Trident would count as an amended one. The council also gave unanimous final approval to drop data centers from the mixed-use office-institutional zone.
Other cities are testing pauses. Voltgrid News reported that Memphis's council split 6-6 on a longer moratorium on Oct. 20 and passed a 135-day pause, and that San Diego's mayor signed a temporary moratorium order after a 400 MW proposal for a federal site. Aurora has so far adopted neither a pause nor its buffer.
Coffman gave notice he will bring the same resolution back at the next regular meeting, which Sentinel Colorado put at Nov. 9. Wiles told CBS Colorado she is unsure seven votes exist. Vantage said in an Oct. 21 letter it would evaluate sites farther from homes and asked for 90 days, but Freeman told Sentinel Colorado no decision has been made to relocate, and no alternative site is named. The tally rests on the city's agenda and four outlets' reports, not the minutes.
