PITTSBURG — Facing backlash and growing frustration over a previously-approved data center approved in 2024, councilmembers are now considering a 45-day moratorium on any future similar facilities.
Councilmember Juan Antonio Banales, who proposed the item during a Monday city council meeting, said the moratorium would cover future building phases in the Pittsburg Technology Park along West Leland Road and “any new proposals” that come to the city.
This proposed halt would not cover the initial construction phase of the data center that was already signed off in 2024, which will sit within the technology park.
According to the Pittsburg Technology Park Specific Plan, phases two and three on the south side of the Contra Costa Canal would allow development of more office space, among other possible uses.
“There’s a lot of confusion out there about what is the status of data center projects and developments, and this makes it clear,” Banales said during Monday’s city council meeting.
The proposed moratorium is set to return to council for discussion on Oct. 26, the city said.
If the measure passes, Pittsburg would join other Bay Area cities such as Oakland and Richmond that have recently enacted similar pauses.
The already-approved site, known as Project Perseus, will be developed by AVAIO Digital, a Connecticut-based data center developer.
Late last year, AVAIO Digital CEO Mark McComiskey said in a statement that the Pittsburg site was a “truly unique” platform, with the “lowest power costs in the market.”
AVAIO says it has an agreement with Pittsburg Power Company, which the city owns. The company currently serves customers on Mare Island, in Vallejo. Pittsburg residents are served by PG&E.
This location’s first phase will occupy about 22 acres of a larger 76.4-acre site located on the eastern half of the former Delta View Golf Course, which closed in 2018.
Project Perseus’ first phase is set to have 99 megawatts of power, just under a regulatory cutoff.
The California Energy Commission can exempt data centers’ backup generators from full state licensing if their combined generating capacity is 100 megawatts or less. The developer, AVAIO Digital, says the campus is designed to grow in 99-megawatt phases, up to 500 megawatts.
At peak load, the energy for the newly-built facility could serve 74,000 to 99,000 homes, or three to four times the number of households in Pittsburg. The state’s grid operator estimates that one megawatt serves 750 to 1,000 homes.
Controversy over Project Perseus previously came to a head in June, when residents packed a city meeting to raise concerns about the data center’s environmental impact.
Some residents said at the time they were misled and expected the project to be a business and technology park, not a large data center.
AVAIO’s Pittsburg facility, which has yet to break ground, would consist of a three-story data center building with supporting facilities such as backup generators, an electrical substation and a commercial power switching yard.
Pittsburg and AVAIO signed a project development agreement in 2019, but some further contracts are still being discussed.
The moratorium, Banales said, also gives the citizens advisory committee announced in August an opportunity to complete its work.
Formed through the city manager’s office, the committee includes Banales, and another councilmember, Jelani Killings, along with 19 community members who will set standards for future facilities.
Killings said during the Monday meeting that there has been some information about Project Perseus that was “not factual,” and the city would continue to share details that were “pertinent” to the project that has been adopted.
“We understand that there is a larger narrative around data centers, not just regionally but nationally,” he said. “And it’s important that we’re looking at the scope and the merits of this specific project as we move forward.”
During the public comment period on Monday, residents repeatedly demanded for a 90-day or two-year moratorium covering all projects, including what was already approved.
Some even urged the city to cancel the project, worried about potential health ramifications from gas emitted by the backup generators at such facilities.
Earlier in the afternoon, dozens of Pittsburg High School students staged a walkout from class to demand that the city stop the data center project.
Chanting “Money for kids and education not for AI data center” and carrying placards, the students made their way to City Hall — a distance of approximately 0.75 miles — and continued their protest there.
Kaylee Bolanos, 17, who took part in the walkout, said she wanted to call out the “hypocrisy and corruption” by the city leaders.
“Pittsburg has always been saying that they’re in support of the kids and children, but they have more problems that they’ve never addressed when it comes to things like bullying and mental health,” she told Bay Area News Group.
“They are letting this [data center project] to happen because they prioritize money over the people.”
