The Indio City Council voted unanimously to extend its moratorium on new data center development applications for one more year, keeping a hard stop on new projects through October 16, 2027. The vote, the second and final extension of a ban first imposed in June, gives city staff additional time to rewrite local planning rules while development applications for new high-intensity computing facilities remain subject to the moratorium.
According to KESQ, the extension applies to the establishment, expansion or intensification of data centers and other similar high-intensity computing uses. The additional time, per the same report, is meant to let city staff draft permanent amendments to Indio's general plan, unified development code, zoning regulations, development standards and other applicable rules governing where and how such facilities could operate.
The moratorium itself isn't new. The City of Indio says its council unanimously approved an urgency ordinance establishing an initial 45-day citywide moratorium on data center applications on June 3, 2026, with the stated goal of giving staff time to study the issue, run a public review process, and complete a land use analysis required by state law. The council later extended that ban for 90 days in July, pushing its expiration to October 16, 2026 — the deadline this week's vote was designed to replace, the station's report notes.
Why City Hall Is Worried About Water and Power
City staff identified a specific list of concerns driving the moratorium: data centers' water consumption, electrical demand, greenhouse gas emissions, noise and air quality, according to the KESQ report. Those worries track with statewide trends. A statewide assessment from Next 10 found that electricity consumption by California data centers jumped from 5.54 terawatt-hours in 2019 to 10.82 terawatt-hours in 2023, a nearly 95 percent increase, with projections showing that figure could climb to between 16.16 and 25.28 terawatt-hours by 2028.
The same Next 10 analysis found that total water consumption by California data centers rose from 25.42 billion liters in 2019 to 49.91 billion liters in 2023, a 96.4 percent increase, while carbon emissions nearly doubled over that span, from 1.24 million short tons to 2.38 million. Health costs attributed to the state's data centers surged from $44.68 million in 2019 to $155.44 million in 2023, more than tripling, per that same assessment. These figures are statewide totals, not Indio-specific estimates.
As of the city's June statement, there were no active applications for data center projects within Indio, according to the City of Indio.
A Regional Pattern Across the Coachella Valley
Indio is not alone in wrestling with the issue. Neighboring Coachella has also weighed its own moratorium after hundreds of residents protested a proposed project at a City Council meeting, as Business Insider reported. All four Coachella council members signaled support for a temporary halt on Stronghold Power Systems' proposal, planning documents for which described a Coachella Valley Technology Campus spanning up to 450 acres and eventually including six data centers.
Riverside County has faced similar pressure. A petition with more than 9,000 signatures was formally submitted to the county Board of Supervisors seeking a temporary halt on new data center approvals in unincorporated areas, according to a separate KESQ investigation. County officials said there are currently no commitments or formal proposals for a data center project in those unincorporated areas, while acknowledging recent interest and preliminary discussions with developers. Any countywide moratorium or ban would require formal action by the full Board of Supervisors, that report noted.
What the Extension Legally Requires
State law shapes how Indio can keep extending its ban, under the California Legislative Information framework. The process included a public hearing, a 90-day extension in July and a proposed one-year final extension. The proposed final extension required a four-fifths vote for adoption. That threshold explains why this week's unanimous vote mattered: anything short of a supermajority would have let the moratorium lapse. The June ordinance also required four votes to place the item before the council.
With the extension now locked in through October 2027, Indio staff have another year to finish the zoning and general plan amendments meant to govern data centers permanently, rather than through a series of temporary bans. What those permanent rules will look like, and when they might come before the council for a vote, remains unclear.
