Perris is considering a citywide ban on certain data centers while a separate proposal moves forward at the Southern California Fair and Events Center, a state-owned property near Lake Perris. The immediate question is therefore not simply whether the city supports or opposes the project, but which government has authority over each site.
The Perris Planning Commission voted Sept. 16 to recommend an ordinance prohibiting data centers that require high amounts of electricity and water, according to KVCR Public Media. The recommendation still must go to the City Council, so it is not yet an effective prohibition.
Two properties, two approval tracks
The proposed ban would apply within Perris city limits, but current reporting indicates that the fairgrounds are outside the city’s construction jurisdiction and are overseen by a board appointed by the governor. The distinction has practical consequences: even if the City Council adopts the ordinance, that action would not by itself decide whether the fairgrounds project proceeds. Perris officials began developing the ban after a unanimous June council vote, according to The Riverside Record.
The legal boundary is not a blanket answer to every land-use question. A 2001 appellate decision, Bame v. City of Del Mar, addresses state immunity in connection with specified governmental functions, events, fees, taxes and contracting entities, but the decision should not be read as resolving every construction or permitting issue involving fairgrounds. The opinion is available through FindLaw.
What is proposed at the fairgrounds
In August, the fairgrounds board approved a nonbinding agreement with Global Stack USA for a potential project on five acres. The concept includes a small edge data center, a heliport and a parking structure, according to The Press-Enterprise. Global Stack says the facilities are intended to support a broader network that could provide computing and emergency-response capacity at fairgrounds, while also generating lease or operating revenue.
The agreement is nonbinding, and the fairgrounds proposal has not reached the point at which its final design, utility requirements or environmental effects can be independently assessed. Global Stack has described the proposed unit as using a closed-loop cooling system without a cooling tower or make-up water line, and has characterized its water use as effectively zero. Those remain developer statements, not findings from a completed public review.
That distinction matters because the label “edge” describes a smaller, more distributed type of computing facility; it does not by itself establish how much electricity or water a particular installation will require. The proposed ordinance likewise raises a threshold question: Perris officials would need to define which facilities qualify as data centers and how high-use criteria would be measured.
A local dispute set against broader pressure
Research cited by UC Riverside News found that community water systems nationwide may need billions of dollars in infrastructure to manage peak data-center demand. That study describes an industrywide infrastructure challenge; it does not establish the requirements or impacts of the smaller Perris concept.
Electricity demand is also growing as a national policy concern. The U.S. Department of Energy, summarizing a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report, said data centers used about 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023 and could account for approximately 6.7% to 12% by 2028. Those figures provide scale for the national debate, not a forecast for the fairgrounds project, as the Department of Energy notes.
Other fairgrounds proposals show the limits of comparison
Global Stack’s Perris plan is part of a broader effort involving fairgrounds and other publicly controlled properties, but the outcomes have not been uniform. Meeting minutes from the 1-A District Agricultural Association show that the company also sought a project at the Cow Palace near San Francisco, while The Press-Enterprise reported that proposals at fairgrounds in Ventura County and Calistoga encountered local opposition. These examples demonstrate that approval depends on the governing board and project-specific process; they do not show that similar proposals will have the same result.
In Ventura County, the fairgrounds board voted 5-3 to give Global Stack 30 days’ notice terminating its nonbinding memorandum of understanding, according to the Santa Barbara News-Press. The Ventura decision is a recent example of a board ending exploration after public concerns, but it does not determine the authority or eventual decision-making path in Perris.
The next formal steps in Perris are separate. The City Council must decide whether to adopt the Planning Commission’s recommended ordinance, while the fairgrounds board must continue evaluating whether the nonbinding agreement should lead to a more detailed proposal. The fairgrounds board is scheduled to meet Sept. 23 at 4 p.m. at the Fairgrounds Administration Building, according to The Press-Enterprise.
