# Fort Collins council to hold first reading of data center moratorium Tuesday - **Publisher:** FoCo Observer — independent local news for Fort Collins and Northern Colorado - **Published:** Oct 21, 2026, 8:30 PM MDT (2026-10-21T20:30:26.977388-06:00) - **Section:** Local-government - **Canonical URL:** https://foco-observer.com/fort-collins/fort-collins-council-to-hold-first-reading-of/ The Fort Collins City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday night to approve Ordinance No. 147, 2026 on first reading, establishing a temporary moratorium on new data centers two weeks after directing staff to bring the measure forward.[^1][^2] The ordinance stops the city from accepting or processing land use, permit, or other applications to construct or operate a data center as a principal use, or as an accessory use with a proposed peak electrical demand of more than 10 megawatts. It defines a data center as "a building, portion of a building, or site whose primary function is housing computing, storage, or network equipment that processes or transmits data for third parties or for operations not located on the premises." The moratorium would take effect retroactively from Oct. 6 and run through the end of April 6, 2027.[^2] Server rooms and computing that support an on-site operation — including offices, labs, healthcare facilities, schools, telecom and broadband facilities, utility control rooms, and manufacturing or research uses — remain allowed at or under the 10 MW threshold, according to the staff presentation.[^3] Eight speakers addressed the item before the vote. Four urged adoption, citing concerns over utility rates, water use, and the political influence of AI companies — one, citing polling they said covered more than 6,000 Larimer County residents, told the council 94% opposed local construction of an AI data center. Two speakers representing the owner of a self-storage facility at 2120 Midpoint Drive asked the council to exempt their project, which would convert part of the facility into what they described as a low-latency "inference point" drawing 10 to 20 megawatts — infrastructure, they said, that would serve hospitals, universities and emergency response rather than a typical AI data center. Other speakers raised questions about who pays for new power infrastructure and whether large users would take priority over existing customers.[^1] Staff told the council the Midpoint Drive project has completed only a conceptual review — a pre-application step with no fee paid — and has no formal development application on file, so under the moratorium as written the project as proposed could not proceed. Staff also said the 10 MW threshold was lowered from an initial 25 MW proposal based on council feedback, and that it aligns with the Platte River Power Authority's definition of a large load, which carries additional requirements for any customer above it.[^1] The ordinance passed without amendment. Councilmember Fudge, who cast the lone vote against directing the moratorium on Oct. 6, said the definition as written could sweep up projects like the Midpoint Drive proposal that may have beneficial uses, and floated allowing facilities up to the originally proposed 25 megawatt level. With no colleagues taking up a change, Fudge joined the unanimous vote, saying upcoming work sessions are the place to refine definitions and thresholds.[^1] Data centers are not currently an allowed primary use in Fort Collins, and the Land Use Code contains no data center regulations; an application today would be handled through the Addition of Permitted Use process. The city's peak electric demand is about 325 MW on a hot day, and a small number of existing customers use between 12 and 25 MW.[^4] Council adopted Resolution 2026-117 on Oct. 6 by a 5-1 vote, directing staff to present the moratorium Tuesday and to stop accepting applications for covered data centers in the meantime.[^5][^6] Second reading is scheduled for Nov. 3, and the ordinance as drafted carries a Nov. 13 effective date. Staff has scheduled a council work session on data centers for Jan. 12 and is targeting a March 2, 2027 first reading of permanent regulations covering definitions and thresholds, power and water use, community impacts and benefits, and standards including setbacks, allowable zones, screening and noise.[^2][^1] [^1]: https://reflect-vod-fcgov.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/3077 [^2]: https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/fortcollco-meet-598bc75958fb449185d8e1246cf812dc/ITEM-Attachment-003-430c66a2a1bb4d1bb33b0d1412480f6f.pdf [^3]: https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/fortcollco-meet-598bc75958fb449185d8e1246cf812dc/ITEM-Attachment-001-c57bb829b6e84950b798f6e4db1f7227.pdf [^4]: https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/fortcollco-meet-598bc75958fb449185d8e1246cf812dc/ITEM-Attachment-002-ee4c5984f76a478faeb97e5ff31a549a.pdf [^5]: https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/fortcollco-meet-d68c27d21cce48b983d338912f712f0f/ITEM-Attachment-001-1e6c8da0df974874b5716af11c9fff4d.pdf [^6]: https://reflect-vod-fcgov.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/3065 ## Sources - [https://meetings.municode.com/adaHtmlDocument?cc=FORTCOLLCO&me=d68c27d21cce48b983d338912f712f0f&ip=true](https://meetings.municode.com/adaHtmlDocument?cc=FORTCOLLCO&me=d68c27d21cce48b983d338912f712f0f&ip=true) ## More from FoCo Observer - [This story (web)](https://foco-observer.com/fort-collins/fort-collins-council-to-hold-first-reading-of/) - [Local-government section](https://foco-observer.com/section/local-government/) - [Front page](https://foco-observer.com/) - [All pages for LLMs](https://foco-observer.com/llms.txt) - [News feed (RSS)](https://foco-observer.com/rss.xml)