Mountain Home, Idaho Data Center Moratorium Passes Over 3.4M Sq Ft Plan
Mountain Home's City Council voted unanimously on Oct. 27 to halt data center applications and permits, though Weitz and Co. has filed no application for its 3.4 million sq ft Bennett Ranch plan.
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The council voted unanimously on Oct. 27; the 3.4 million sq ft Bennett Ranch plan is a proposal, not an application.
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Mountain Home, Idaho, has frozen new data center applications and permits under an emergency moratorium that its City Council unanimously approved on Oct. 27, according to KIVI and CBS2 Idaho.
The council acted on Oct. 27 although Weitz and Co. had filed no application for its 3.4 million sq ft proposal, KIVI reported.
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The council acted after residents packed city hall to oppose a proposal from developer Dan Weitz, whose company, Weitz and Co., dropped off plans for the Bennett Ranch Industrial Campus, KIVI reported. The plans show four three-story buildings with about 3.4 million square feet in total, near West Fifth North Street.
Neither station gave the moratorium's length or end date, and the ordinance text had not been published in their reports.
No Data Center Application Has Been Filed
Mayor Rich Sykes wrote to Weitz that the documents were not a formal application, KIVI said. Weitz has not filed a land-use application, a conditional use permit or a building permit. Sykes also said data centers are neither a permitted nor a conditional use in any zone under the city's current code.
The pause therefore works as a stop on any new filing, whoever makes it.
Residents Want a Ban, Not a Pause
Several speakers said a pause was not enough. Resident Aaron Madison asked the council to add data centers to the city's prohibited list, so that a project cannot move forward later. Another neighbor, Andrew Toth, said it took many people turning up after months of concern to get the issue addressed.
A site with no zoning path can still draw a formal halt once a large plan becomes public. At 3.4 million square feet, the filing would have been a very large campus for the city to review, though no power demand or capacity figure has been published.
The Idaho action follows similar votes elsewhere. San Diego's council ratified a 45-day moratorium on Oct. 27, and Aurora's council failed 6-5 on Oct. 26 to revisit one.
What Is Not Confirmed About the Moratorium
The moratorium's duration, the exact ordinance text and the date the council expects to finish its data center rules have not been published in those reports. Weitz has not publicly responded in them, and it is unclear whether the company will file an application once rules are set.
