Patterson city leaders voted Tuesday to extend a temporary halt on new data center projects for another 10 months and 15 days, pushing the pause all the way to July 15, 2027. The move, approved through Interim Urgency Ordinance No. 890, replaces what had been a much shorter 45-day emergency freeze set to expire August 30.
The original pause, Ordinance No. 889, was passed on July 16 as officials scrambled to stop new data center applications from moving forward automatically under the city's existing rules, according to CBS News Sacramento. Under Patterson Municipal Code Section 18.96.080, data centers had been permitted “by right” in industrial zoning districts and allowed elsewhere with a conditional use permit, per meeting records filed with the City of Patterson. That by-right status meant the planning commission had little power to deny a qualifying project outright, which is why council members turned to an emergency ordinance rather than a standard zoning revision.
The Rogers Road Parcel at the Center of It All
Much of the local anxiety traces back to an approximately 20-acre site at 555 Rogers Road, inside the Rogers Road Industrial Hub near the West Patterson Business Park expansion, where a developer had been scouting a large-scale data center location, according to a report cited from the Modesto Bee's coverage. Residents raised pointed concerns about the potential for groundwater depletion and sudden spikes in electrical demand tied to a facility of that scale, the same reporting notes.
Those fears are not unique to Patterson. State law gives cities real teeth to slow projects like this down: California Government Code Section 65858 lets city councils enact land-use moratoriums for up to 45 days without prior public notice, but stretching that pause further requires a four-fifths supermajority vote, according to Justia Law. The statute also requires municipal staff to produce a public report detailing what steps the city has taken to study and address the underlying problem before any extension is granted.
Neighboring Cities Are Drawing Their Own Lines
Patterson is not alone in pumping the brakes. In nearby Modesto, city officials issued a statement in August declaring that data centers are not currently an allowed land use under the city's municipal code, after hundreds of residents packed a public meeting to protest potential developer lobbying, per CBS News. Modesto already hosts two small legacy server facilities run by Lumen Technologies and Ayera Technologies downtown, but the city's code was never written with massive modern AI facilities in mind.
The pattern extends across the San Joaquin Valley. Tulare County was weighing its own 45-day emergency moratorium the same day as Patterson's vote, following protests tied to a fairground data center proposal, as reported by GV Wire. Imperial County had already enacted its own 45-day pause back in June, after walking back approval of a 950,000-square-foot facility, the outlet notes.
Sacramento Lawmakers Are Moving Too
State legislators are trying to catch up with the same pressures driving these local pauses. The California State Senate passed Senate Bill 886 in May, directing utility regulators to set up special tariffs so that data centers drawing 25 megawatts or more pay for their own grid upgrades rather than passing those costs on to residential ratepayers, according to the California State Senate. Authored by Sen. Steve Padilla, the bill was still advancing through Assembly committees in mid-August as lawmakers neared the end of the legislative session.
A companion measure, Senate Bill 887, would eliminate categorical exemptions under the California Environmental Quality Act for data center projects while streamlining legal review for zero-carbon facilities, according to Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a data center water-usage disclosure bill in 2025, but this year's legislative push has taken a tougher stance on environmental scrutiny.
Not Every City Is Choosing a Full Stop
Silicon Valley is charting a different course. A San Jose City Council committee rejected a moratorium outright on August 13, instead voting to study mandatory community benefit contributions from data center developers, funding things like local solar, parks, and job training, according to KQED. A national Gallup poll cited during those San Jose proceedings found that nearly 70% of Americans oppose building AI data centers near their own neighborhoods.
The Central Valley's scramble also mirrors a wider national reckoning. In July and August, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul instituted a one-year pause on facilities of 50 megawatts or more, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered grid audits, according to TechPolicy.Press. Concerns over power grid strain, potential rate hikes, and heavy water use in arid regions have pushed data center freezes into national headlines, the report notes, with Patterson's nearly yearlong pause now standing as one of California's more aggressive local responses.
