Oregon City halts data centres pending water-capacity rules
Oregon City Public Works, Oregon · Meeting date: November 4, 2026 · Published: November 5, 2026
Oregon City commissioners have approved a 120-day freeze on new data centres and standalone battery energy storage systems in five employment and industrial zones. The city will use the pause to establish utility-capacity and development standards, including requirements related to cooling-water demand and discharge.
Key points
- The moratorium bars the city from accepting, processing or approving applications, permits and utility connections for new or expanded data centres and standalone battery energy storage systems for 120 days.
- It applies in General Industrial, Campus Industrial, Mixed Use Employment, Mixed Use Corridor 1 and Mixed Use Corridor 2 zones.
- City findings say current regulations contain no standards for cooling-water demand, cooling-tower blowdown or discharge water quality, and no process to confirm water and wastewater capacity before approval.
- Staff will develop a requirement for applicants to demonstrate utility capacity, including electrical-service availability, while coordinating technical review with the South Fork Water Board and Water Environment Services.
Full report
Oregon City has approved a 120-day moratorium on data centres and standalone battery energy storage systems, arguing that its present code offers no mechanism to assess the water and wastewater implications of resource-intensive facilities before land-use approval.
The freeze takes immediate effect and prevents the city from accepting, processing, approving or issuing land-use applications, building permits, public-facility connection permits and other approvals for new or expanded data centres and battery storage systems proposed as primary uses. It covers land zoned General Industrial, Campus Industrial, Mixed Use Employment, Mixed Use Corridor 1 and Mixed Use Corridor 2.
Commissioners adopted the moratorium under Oregon’s compelling-need provisions rather than on the basis of a public-facilities shortage. The city said its municipal code does not define data centres or distinguish facilities by building size, electricity demand, water demand, storage capacity or site area. As a result, a facility could potentially be treated as a similar use within an existing permitted category and be approved without discretionary review or public notice.
The findings identify evaporative cooling as a particular water-planning concern. They state that such systems can create peak-day water demand greater than that of other industrial uses, while the city has no standard covering cooling-water demand, cooling-tower blowdown or the water-quality characteristics of that discharge. Nor does the city have a process to confirm available capacity with the South Fork Water Board or Water Environment Services before approval.
During the moratorium, staff will audit all code pathways under which the uses could be established, prepare definitions and scale thresholds, and determine where the uses could be permitted, conditionally permitted or prohibited. The work programme also calls for a land-use requirement setting out when and how applicants must demonstrate utility capacity and identify required system improvements.
Detailed permitting submittal requirements and a system development charge methodology linked to the utility-capacity requirement will follow in a separate package. The city said those items are not required to address the immediate basis for the moratorium.
Portland General Electric, Clackamas Fire District #1, the South Fork Water Board and Water Environment Services have been asked to participate in technical review. The city has received no data-centre applications, pre-application requests or inquiries, according to the findings.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: City Commission Regular Meeting (first Wednesdays), Oregon City Public Works