Petersburg planning commission to vote next month on one-year data center ban

A 2-megawatt data center proposed for Petersburg's former Ocean Beauty cannery site has already drawn testimony over noise, power and growth — and now the Planning Commission is moving to freeze all data center projects for a year while the borough writes rules to govern them.

Under draft language the commission worked up Tuesday, data centers of any size would be prohibited across the borough's Service Area 1 for one year. The commission set the measure as an action item for its Sept. 8 meeting, when members will vote on whether to send the Title 19 amendment to the Borough Assembly, which holds final say.

The commissioner who drafted the language said the borough should slow down before writing permanent rules. "I support a total data center moratorium for 1 year, and by total I mean any data center of any size, for 1 year while we can get our regulations together," he said. The urgency, borough staff attorney Liz Cabrera told the commission, is that nothing currently stands in the way. "If there's nothing in place, then if somebody wants to put one on industrial property, there's nothing to stop them," she said, noting that uses not specifically prohibited have generally been read as allowed in industrial zones. The commissioner added that a facility built before the rules take effect would not be subject to them.

Cabrera, who said she could not recall the borough ever adopting a moratorium, suggested the mechanics — prohibiting data centers in all districts for a set year, and covering all of Service Area 1 since not every parcel is zoned.

Two residents urged the pause. Mary Evans asked the commission to "allow time for meaningful due diligence and community discussion before Petersburg establishes a precedent that may be very difficult to reverse." Becky Knight asked for "a moratorium on all such centers until at least our community can develop policies on them." No formal application has yet reached the commission; "we the Planning Commission have received nothing," Knight said.

The cannery proposal has its backers. At the Assembly in May, supporters said the project could stabilize electric rates and generate millions of dollars in annual revenue. Carl Hagerman, speaking for it, said it "falls into the amount of power that we have" once regional utility upgrades are counted.