Res. 2267 - Moratorium on the Development and Construction of Data Centers COUNCIL BILL NO. 3310
RESOLUTION NO. 2267
A RESOLUTION DECLARING A MORATORIUM ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND
CONSTRUCTION OF DATA STORAGE, PROCESSING, AND INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY CENTERS (DATA CENTERS) PURSUANT TO ORS 197.505-540.
WHEREAS, pursuant to ORS 197.520, a city may adopt a moratorium on
certain construction or land development on the basis of written findings justifying
the need for the moratorium in the manner provided for by ORS 197.505-540; and
WHEREAS, in 2025, the City of Woodburn ("City") expanded its Urban Growth
Boundary ("UGB") by an additional 237 acres to make lands available for future
industrial development and economic growth opportunities; and
WHEREAS, this industrially-zoned area of the City is called the Southwest
Industrial Reserve ("SWIR"); and
WHEREAS, by way of a now-terminated non-disclosure agreement, the City
learned of the sizeable infrastructure impacts that could result should a data
center facility be constructed in the SWIR area in Woodburn, raising concerns
about the City's ability to properly regulate and manage such development
under existing codes and ordinances; and
WHEREAS, many communities across the nation, including in Oregon, have
recently experienced the rapid development of resource-intensive hyperscale
data centers, leading to concerns about massive energy and water
consumption, increasing utility rates, environmental pollution, noise levels,
property fax incentives, and competition in employment lands; and
WHEREAS, increasingly, data center developments rely on relatively new
and evolving technologies like evaporation cooling systems and on-site electricity
generation or storage, which are not yet fully understood as to their impacts on
surrounding neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, onsife energy storage for data centers in the form of Batter Energy
Storage Systems ("BESS"s) is becoming increasingly more common and the City
needs time to coordinate with the Woodburn Fire District to prepare and develop
emergency response plans for fires involving these systems; and
WHEREAS, the economic benefits of a data center facility can be less
impactful than other types of industrial developments, falling significantly below
targeted job growth rates that other industrial sectors could provide; and
WHEREAS, the Oregon Governor has convened an advisory committee on
data centers, which is scheduled to release a report in October 2026 that will
provide the State with recommendations for a comprehensive regulatory
framework to strategically pursue economic development opportunities, in line
with the work of the Governor's Prosperity Roadmap, while ensuring utility costs,
infrastructure investments, and environmental impacts from data centers remain
sustainable and equitable for all residents, especially low-income and working
families; and
WHEREAS, the imposition of a moratorium for a reasonable period of time on
the acceptance, consideration and approval of all applications for City permits
and development proposals related to the construction of new "Data Storage,
Processing, and Information Technology Centers," as that use is defined in the
Woodburn Development Ordinance ("WDO"), will allow the City time to
reevaluate zoning regulations, public utility plans, and reassess siting criteria to be
better prepared to address the growth and influx of the data center industry; and
WHEREAS, the City has engaged with the Thomas Consulting Group to
provide the City with technical assistance in (i) revising and adapting zoning
codes, permitting processes, and local ordinances to manage potential future
data center development; (ii) identifying potential harms like air, noise, and water
pollution and putting mitigation strategies in place to prioritize community health
and resilience; (iii) modeling relative infrastructure needs and detecting capacity
stress points; (iv) conducting independent economic impact assessments to
better understand long-term economic implications from data center
development; and (v) providing communication strategies, dashboards, and
engagement platforms that build trust with residents to ensure the public is heard
and informed throughout the process; and
WHEREAS, the City adopts this moratorium not based on a need to prevent
a shortage of public facilities, but as a compelling need moratorium to prevent
irrevocable public harm while the City undertakes a process to study the impacts
of data center development and analyze the City's development code and
other ordinances in order to more appropriately regulate these potential future
developments; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to ORS 197.520(1 )(a), on July 30, 2026, the City provided
the Oregon State Department of Land Conservation and Development ("DLCD")
notice of its intention to hold a final public hearing to consider the adoption of a
moratorium; and
WHEREAS, at its regularly scheduled meeting on September 14, 2026, the
Woodburn City Council held a public hearing on the adoption of the moratorium
and findings which support the moratorium; NOW, THEREFORE,
Page 2- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
THE CITY OF WOODBURN RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The City of Woodburn shall not accept, process, approve, or
issue any new applications or permits for land use approval or construction of
new "Data Storage, Processing, and Information Technology Centers," as that
term and use is defined in the Woodburn Development Ordinance ("WDO"),
during the effective period of this moratorium.
Section 2. This Resolution is based on the recitals above and the findings
set forth in the attached Exhibit A.
Section 3. This Resolution and moratorium are effective immediately upon
adoption and shall remain in effect for a period of 120 calendar days, unless
extended or repealed.
Approved as to form: ZI__ G
City Ate'ney Date'
Approved:
Frank Lonerga , Mayor
Passed by the Council or° �-ex N.VIe, - 1�� 2c t'j
Submitted to the Mayor ,= ≤
Approved by the Mayor � .. - I , l ,141P
Filed in the Office of the Recorder ( , , gs
" >v � �ry
ATTEST: �', s. \- 1i V°
H -other Pierson, City Recorder
City of Woodburn, Oregon
Page 3- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
EXHIBIT A
ORS 197.520 FINDINGS SUPPORTING MORATORIUM
1 . These findings supplement the findings stated in the recitals to Resolution
No. 2267 (the "Resolution").
2. ORS 197.520(1) provides:
(1) No city, county or special district may adopt a moratorium on
construction or land development unless it first:
(a) Provides written notice to the Department of Land Conservation and
Development at least 45 days prior to the final public hearing to be held to
consider the adoption of the moratorium;
Finding: The City emailed notice to DLCD on July 30, 2026, which was 46
days before the public hearing on the Resolution was held on September 14,
2026.
This criterion is met.
(b) Makes written findings justifying the need for the moratorium in the
manner provided for in this section; and
Finding: The City makes its findings justifying the need for the moratorium in
the recitals of the Resolution and in this Exhibit.
This criterion is met.
(c) Holds a public hearing on the adoption of the moratorium and the
findings which support the moratorium.
Finding: The Woodburn City Council held a public hearing on the
adoption of the moratorium and the findings which support the moratorium at
their regularly scheduled meeting on September 14, 2026.
This criterion is met.
3. ORS 197.520(3) provides:
(3) A moratorium not based on a shortage of public facilities under
subsection (2) of this section may be justified only by a demonstration of
compelling need. Such a demonstration shall be based upon reasonably
available information and shall include, but need not be limited to, findings:
Page 4- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
Finding: The basis for the moratorium is compelling need and is based
upon reasonably available information, as described in the findings below.
This criterion is met.
(a) For urban or urbanizable land:
Finding: The land affected by this moratorium is land within the city limits of
the City of Woodburn. This land is urban or urbanizable land because it is within
the urban growth boundary. The criteria in this subsection are applicable to this
moratorium and are met as demonstrated in the findings below.
(A) That application of existing development ordinances or regulations
and other applicable law is inadequate to prevent irrevocable public
harm from development in affected geographical areas;
Finding: Oregon has one of the nation's fastest growing data center
markets. In addition to the rapid growth in the physical infrastructure serving
data centers is the fast-changing technology within data centers themselves.
Data centers are shifting from static storage hubs into high-density, Al-driven
ecosystems that require advanced cooling, massive inputs, and automated
management.
Every new Al model needs computing power, networking equipment,
storage, cooling systems, and electricity. That infrastructure is increasingly
concentrated in data centers built specifically for demanding Al workloads. As
companies invest billions in Al, data centers are expanding alongside them,
raising important questions about energy, infrastructure, and sustainability.
Significantly, the City completed an Economic Opportunities Analysis
("EOA") in 2024 that identified data centers as an industrial category for future
growth. The EOA also identified some of the special considerations around data
center development to include: "the trend is towards increasing site size as
cloud storage needs continue to increase. Power delivery, water supply, and
security are critical. Surrounding environment (vibration, air quality, etc.) is
crucial. May require high volume/supply of water and sanitary sewer
treatment." However, while that generalized summary remains accurate, it also
severely underestimates the impacts of new hyperscale data centers. For
example, the City's EOA projects that data center uses could require 10-100
acre-sized sites, 50-200 gallons of water per day per acre, and minimum electric
service demand of 5-25 megawatts, which are all well below newly-projected
impact assessments for data centers.
Page 5- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
Following the adoption of the 2024 EOA, the City initiated a legislative
amendment to its zoning code (the "WDO") to include data centers as a
conditionally permitted use within the SWIR area; however, given the rapid
changes in the technology from what was assumed in the City's EOA, the City
now believes the WDO amendments may not go far enough to address both
direct and ancillary impacts from data center development and prevent
irrevocable public harm.
New hyperscale Al data centers and full data center campuses could
spawl across hundreds of acres of available industrial property, hosting tens of
thousands of servers, drawing well over 100 megawatts of power, and
consuming up to 5 million gallons of water per day.' In 2024, U.S. data centers
used about 4% of national electricity. That figure could triple by 2030.2
Regionally, the City is aware that the Bonneville Power Administration has
received a request to conduct a transmission evaluation study for a massive
700-megawatt project in Woodburn.
Demand for power will continue to increase, but data center leaders also
expect that approximately 30% of all data center sites will also use some onsite
power as a primary energy source supplemental to the grid by 2030.3 Operators
are building on-site generation and energy storage to reduce their reliance on
fragile regional grids. Natural gas generators, fuel cells, and big battery energy
storage systems (BESS) are some of the potential options. This changing energy
demand creates a significant need for study and possible regulation. Existing
development regulations and other applicable City laws may not properly
address the energy demands of modern data centers nor regulate on-site
power generation or storage facilities. Additionally, BESS facilities have the
potential to cause irrevocable public harm if they are developed within the
City's limits and without adequate regulations. According to the EPA, proactive
safety measures should be included in a BESS site design to minimize the risk of a
BESS fire.4
Air and noise pollution are also of potential concern when considering the
siting of data centers near neighborhood population areas. The City's SWIR-
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(Dec 2025).
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(Jan 2025).
a Seerlas./.lvrtpc rte�v/cic <:;trc>r7,oc>:kcaifc iec;s rrrra,rfcacac rrrc r�V(G.>ca0c,'r_y. erne p� .y.:`y�ra.rr Jc y^xV.�..,rr�,:;
ryfc �r c ors idei- ti(c))s-.s fe, (safety measures could include requiring remote sensors and
monitoring and developing emergency response plans for incidents before facilities are
constructed).
Page 6- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
zoned area sits directly adjacent to neighboring residential areas and a number
of new housing developments currently under construction. As such the City has
identified an urgent need to study and potentially regulate the secondary
impacts of these developments.
For example, "when a power outage strikes, large data centers first switch
to their battery backups. Those run out of juice in about 10 minutes, according
to Uptime Institute. Operators then fire up dozens —sometimes hundreds — of
train car-sized diesel generators to keep the power flowing.
Diesel exhaust is part gas, part soot. It's what creates smog around
freeways and traffic-heavy cities like Los Angeles. Its most harmful pollutants
include nitrogen oxides, or NOx, and particulate matter. The World Health
Organization has classified both as carcinogens."5
Additionally, data centers emit sounds from the humming of cooling
systems, rumbling of diesel generators, and whirring of fans, which can be heard
for hundreds of feet around them. Data center noise impacts vary by facility,
time of day, proximity to residential areas, and technology use. Like other
industrial facilities, data centers emit high- and low-frequency sounds, "but it is
difficult to measure with a decibel meter and without reliable measurements it is
difficult to enforce local noise ordinances for nearby residents. . . . Data center
neighbors have reported headaches, vertigo, nausea, sleep disturbances, ear
pain, and hypertension. . . . people who live near these data centers can hear
the noise day and night as a ringing in the ears. Complaints about data center
noise tend to focus on its 24/7 consistent presence rather than on its volume."6
On the basis of the reasonably available information described above,
the City concludes that permitting data center facilities to be developed in
Woodburn without undertaking further review of the City's existing development
ordinance and regulations and other applicable laws could lead to irrevocable
public harm to the community and residents of Woodburn.
This criterion is met.
(B) That the moratorium is sufficiently limited to ensure that a needed
supply of affected housing types and the supply of commercial and
industrial facilities within or in proximity to the city, county or special
s t r /Lwvv
basin! (July 2026).
6 hips //www ec'sa r rcJ/aLfIcVc"/vsr [cQj nrrr rne kie s are rc is]Errc E oisr _.palm rJhen concern c c rn ab u:l:m:.
data centers ent€ rs (March 2026).
Page 7- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
district are not unreasonably restricted by the adoption of the
moratorium;
Finding: The scope of this moratorium is limited to data center facilities. This
moratorium will have no effect on housing, commercial, or other industrial use
facilities.
While the City does not currently have any existing or proposed data
center facilities in Woodburn, the above findings demonstrate that, in the
absence of this moratorium, even the construction of a single data center could
have irreparable and harmful impacts on the community. Additionally, the
moratorium would ensure that the limited industrial land available in Woodburn
would not be consumed by a single use that also fails to support the economic
objective of job creation the City expects and has prioritized to be produced
through development and build out of the SWIR.7
This criterion is met.
(C) Stating the reasons alternative methods of achieving the objectives
of the moratorium are unsatisfactory;
Finding: The objective of this moratorium is to restrict the development of
data centers until the City can properly complete studies and fully understand
the impacts that potential future data centers would have on Woodburn, then
develop and adopt needed regulations to address and mitigate impacts as
appropriate. Alternatively, the City could move to enact development code
amendments that would fully prohibit the development of data centers,
however, undertaking such process would require additional time and the
decision-making process would be based on limited information.
The moratorium process is more suitable since it is both temporary in
nature, but also more responsive and particular in how the City can move
forward to address the public concerns that have been raised regarding data
centers.
This criterion is met.
(D) That the city, county or special district has determined that the public
harm which would be caused by failure to impose a moratorium
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data ce fersr pe cafe,..19 c c_pe r r. s, (Aug 2025) ("Once a data center is up and running, it usually
requires some on-site technicians to handle tasks like setting up and managing IT equipment.
Typically, however, the total data center staff number is only several dozen.")
Page 8- Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
outweighs the adverse effects on other affected local governments,
including shifts in demand for housing or economic development,
public facilities and services and buildable lands, and the overall
impact of the moratorium on population distribution; and
Finding: The potential impact of a limited-time data center moratorium in
Woodburn could mean that future developments move or consider other
neighboring jurisdictions or even other neighboring states. However, given the
number of unknowns about the data center market generally and the decision-
making of other jurisdictions, many of whom are also considering data center
moratoriums, it is difficult to ascertain whether Woodburn's moratorium would
have any effect, adverse or otherwise, on other local governments.
Furthermore, the moratorium that the City is proposing is of a short
duration when measured against development planning that goes into siting
and constructing a large data center or data center campus, so it is unlikely to
result in some surge of data center development that is outside of a companies'
otherwise long-range planning.
When weighing the potential harm described above against any
potential impact on other jurisdictions, it appears that the harm, which is
predictable and measurable would far outweigh the indeterminable effects on
other local governments.
This criterion is met.
(E) That the city, county or special district proposing the moratorium has
determined that sufficient resources are available to complete the
development of needed interim or permanent changes in plans,
regulations or procedures within the period of effectiveness of the
moratorium.
Finding: The City has already directed staff, with the authorized
expenditure of financial resources, to undertake a 120-day work plan to
complete a review of and adopt changes to necessary City development
ordinances, plans, regulations or procedures within the period of effectiveness of
the moratorium. Most importantly, the City has hired and engaged the Thomas
Consulting Group ("TCG") to assist with this work. TCG is a consulting advisory
group that helps local governments prepare for, evaluate, and regulate large-
scale data center developments before formal project proposals arrive. During
the moratorium period, TCG will conduct an independent technical assessment
of the City's ordinances, zoning rules, utility infrastructure, and environmental
standards, and prepare development regulations and processes for the City to
Page 9 - Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267
implement and use in the future when analyzing high-load infrastructure project
proposals like data centers.
The schedule that the City is following for this work plan includes having
necessary code amendments adopted before the expiration of the moratorium.
Should the City be unable to fully address the public harm giving rise to this
moratorium, it may consider an extension pursuant to the rules and processes of
ORS 197.520(4), to allow completion of additional work.
This criterion is met.
4. ORS 197.520(4) provides:
(4) No moratorium adopted under subsection (3)(a) of this section shall be
effective for a period longer than 120 days . . .
Finding: The effective period of the moratorium adopted by the Resolution
is 120 days.
This criterion is met.
Page 10-Council Bill No. 3310
Resolution No. 2267