Aurora City Council on Tuesday passed a suite of new ordinances that would further regulate new data centers within its city limits.
The city calls the new regulations some of the most protective in the country.
Aurora has seen an increase in data center development. Last fall, the city placed a 180-day moratorium on new projects.
Council voted to lower maximum sound levels and will mandate prospective data centers to conduct sound level studies and resource consumption reports. The city also established a formal definition for data centers and updated zoning standards, requiring city council approval for all new data centers.
Alison Lindburg, director of sustainability for the city of Aurora, said the temporary moratorium was put in place to create new standards and ensure data centers are responsible neighbors to Aurora residents.
"This way," she said, "the staff could take some time to understand what the best practices were about data centers and to really listen to the public about their concerns."
She said city staff conducted extensive research, connected with other municipalities and created multiple opportunities for public input throughout the six-month moratorium.
"Here in Aurora, we're trying to strike a balance," Lindburg said. "We're trying to put regulations in place to help data centers that want to come here understand that we want them to be responsible neighbors, and to really be thinking about the future. Hopefully, our residents believe that we've been putting in the legwork to try to do that."
Besides noise, residents have expressed concerns about high electricity costs, air and water pollution, and heavy water usage. They also raised concerns related to artificial intelligence and a lack of transparency in the development process.
The council also extended the city's moratorium on new data centers for another 30 days.
Aurora currently has 5 data centers in operation, with 5 more in development.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
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