Edmonton to study data-centre regulation and restriction

Edmonton city council will receive a report in the spring about ways it could regulate and restrict data centres. Coun. Ashley Salvador introduced the motion asking for the report, saying the rapid expansion of large-scale data centres has raised serious concerns about energy demand, pollution, and alignment with climate community goals. "This represents a new and evolving land use unlike previous ones we've seen, at a scale and intensity that our zoning, infrastructure, and regulatory regimes had not contemplated and were not necessarily designed to regulate," Salvador said.

Coun. Karen Principe added a bullet to the motion through a friendly amendment asking that the report also include information on how large-scale data centres align with the Industrial Investment Action Plan, which aims to increase the city's non-residential tax revenue through industrial business development. Coun. Thu Parmar attempted to amend the motion to delete the term "regulating and restricting," saying she is concerned that restricting them could impact the city's non-residential tax base, but that amendment failed. The motion also calls for administration to keep council informed on proposed and approved projects in Edmonton and the region, and to advise council as soon as possible of proposals that could impact Edmonton, including opportunities for the city's participation in regulatory processes. The city has received one such application for a site in the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park. A feedback page for amendments to the EETP's area structure plan to facilitate the development of a large data centre campus collected more than 1,400 comments, nearly all opposed.

Salvador said that municipalities make up only one piece of the regulatory environment that governs data centres, yet they bear much of the brunt when one is built in or near a community. Provincial regulatory bodies decide on issues such as water, power, and gas supply, while a municipality decides on land use, development permits, roads, and the standards for noise and light. Several municipalities across Canada, including Calgary, Rocky View County, and Mountain View County, have proposed or enacted temporary restrictions on data centre applications. A moratorium on any one type of development is usually not permitted under the Municipal Government Act, staff told council, and if the Alberta Utilities Commission determines a power generation facility for a data centre is appropriately located, the municipality must also approve it. Travis Pawlyk, the city's branch manager of development services, said large-scale data centres are already allowed in Edmonton's zoning bylaw in the heavy industrial zone because their impacts on the surrounding properties are similar to existing heavy industrial uses, such as refineries and chemical plants.