Petersburg moves toward a nine-month pause on some data centers; broader ban fails 3-3

The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 6-0 on Oct. 5 to direct the borough manager to draft an ordinance for a nine-month moratorium on certain data center development. The pause would cover data centers that cannot meet normal operating loads through the interconnected grid or that do not use closed-loop cooling. Emergency and standby generation would be exempt.

The vote does not start a moratorium. The ordinance still needs three readings, which Assembly Member Jeff Meucci said would take about six weeks. "As this moratorium is being written right now, somebody can still come in and apply for a building permit to develop a data center," Meucci said.

The assembly split 3-3 on a one-year moratorium on Sept. 21, and no pause took effect, as Alaska News reported Sept. 25. Vice Mayor Stan Gregor brought back the narrower version. He said an absent member had pointed out that someone could build a diesel plant at Thomas Bay and bypass the grid.

Meucci moved to amend the motion to cover all data centers. Gregor opposed it, saying that approach lacked support two weeks earlier. Assembly Member Robert Schwartz backed the amendment, saying he personally has no interest in any data centers but would listen to the community. The amendment failed 3-3.

The assembly then voted 6-0 to direct the manager to draft amendments to the borough zoning code for data centers. The agenda item, read by Mayor Bob Lynn, said the code does not specifically address data centers and that they were not contemplated when it was adopted.

In public testimony, Mary Evans said a 2-megawatt continuous load would use almost 10 percent of the power SEPA generates. "For the community to have a voice, data centers must be assigned a zoning category that requires conditional use," Evans said. Becky Knight said she is "100% opposed to a data center located anywhere in our borough."

Utility Director Stephan Harbour said there is no official application for service, though the developer asked for and started a power study application.

Community Development Director Liz Cabrera said the borough has no complete building permit and that putting a hold on the project proposed for the former Ocean Beauty property would require preventing any building permit.