Dinuba's City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Oct. 27, to adopt a rewritten zoning ordinance that effectively bans data centers anywhere within city limits, even though the code technically lists them as a permitted use. The council also approved a new rulebook limiting commercial buildings to 88 approved exterior paint colors, part of the same cleanup package.
The council approved the amendments as part of its consent calendar, according to The Sun-Gazette, following a first reading of the ordinance on Oct. 13. The quirk at the center of the data-center provision is unusual: the code adds data centers to its permitted-use tables, but according to the newspaper's report, “the tables just don't list any zones in which they are allowed.” In effect, there is no address in Dinuba where a data center could legally be built under the new rules.
Why City Officials Wanted Data Centers Out
City staffer Karl Schoettler, who presented the cleanup amendments covering both the data-center language and the commercial color rules, said Dinuba aimed to proactively prohibit data centers in every zone because of their heavy water and energy use, a position he laid out when the council first reviewed the ordinance Oct. 13. Councilmember Kuldip Thusu supported banning data centers from Dinuba at that time, but also said he wanted the option to permit them in the future if the technology improves and its negative effects decrease.
The Dinuba Planning Commission's formal recommendation reflects that same wait-and-see posture: it called for monitoring data-center development and said the city could reconsider permitting them if facilities become more efficient and carry fewer negative environmental impacts, per the Sun-Gazette's report. The ordinance's actual definition is narrow by design. It describes a data center as a building or group of buildings used primarily for computer servers, data storage, networking and related IT equipment that processes, stores, manages or transmits digital information. Notably, the definition does not prohibit server rooms or other telecommunications infrastructure that directly supports local business operations, meaning a shop or office running its own in-house server setup isn't caught up in the ban.
Dinuba Joins a Statewide Wave of Local Pushback
Dinuba's move lands amid a broader scramble among California cities to get ahead of data-center development before it arrives. At least 26 resolutions, moratoriums or bans on data-center projects have been passed or proposed statewide since June, according to Food & Water Watch, as reported by CalMatters. Oakland's city council, for instance, unanimously approved a 45-day moratorium on new data-center approvals earlier this month, the outlet reported.
The pressure is building because California already ranks third nationally in data-center density, with 366 facilities operating, under construction or in the planning pipeline, per CalMatters. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven new data-center-related laws last month focused mainly on disclosure requirements, environmental impact studies and grid protection, the outlet reported — measures that apparently haven't moved fast enough to satisfy cities like Dinuba and Oakland, which are writing their own restrictions in the meantime.
The underlying resource concerns are well documented elsewhere in the state. A 2026 report from the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment notes that developers are building more data centers on top of the hundreds already operating statewide, intensifying demand on water resources. The same report points out a tradeoff baked into the technology: more water-efficient cooling strategies usually require more energy, so there's no clean fix. Separately, the California Energy Commission's planning forecast projects data centers will account for 4,500 megawatts, or 9 percent of peak electricity demand statewide, by 2040.
New Color Rules Target Commercial Facades
The same ordinance update that closed the door on data centers also opened a far more colorful conversation: Dinuba adopted a palette of 88 permitted exterior colors for commercial buildings, dominated by creams, beiges, grays and other light shades. Schoettler said the color palette is meant to improve visual quality and compatibility along commercial corridors and protect the city's overall character.
New commercial construction will need its exterior color approved through a permit as part of the site-plan review process. Existing commercial buildings, however, will not need a permit simply to repaint, giving current property owners more flexibility than those building from scratch. Schoettler suggested city staff could notify business owners about the new color rules through business-license renewal notices or utility bills, rather than requiring a separate outreach effort.
The council also discussed, without formally adopting, building-upkeep standards that would require commercial property owners to maintain their facades even when a building sits unoccupied — a potential follow-up measure aimed at vacant storefronts that stand out along the city's commercial strips.
