Data center moratorium fails during Klickitat County Commissioners meeting despite public support

Commissioner Todd Andrews made the opening statement, explaining his motion for a six-month data center moratorium, which died for the lack of a second at the previous week’s meeting.

“Three counties proposed moratoriums before I did,” he said. “Since then there have been three more: Skamania, Spokane, and Yakima. People are proposing them, because, like Klickitat County, they do not have proper zoning and ordinances to cover things. What we have in this county shows that data centers are treated as warehouses in industrial zones. They are big buildings like warehouses, but much different. Different energy, water needs, all sorts of things.

“A moratorium allows us six months and longer if we extend it, and it allows time for public comment,” he continued. “So before we potentially accept some permits, this would give us time to go over, to seek public comment, to look internally at what changes we need to make in the county to ensure that we address the needs.”

Commissioner Lori Zoller said, “A week and a half ago was the first time in session that Mr. Andrews shared his already developed moratorium with us ... An industrial development of any kind is very, very different and a lot more complicated than just a simple building permit. I don’t think he’s aware of the environmental consequences that are on the books that put these people through the ringer to develop an industrial development.”

Commissioner Ron Ihrig added, “The question to me is, okay, data center’s been talked about for years. Why all of a sudden now that we need a moratorium?”

As previously reported, three possible data centers have been proposed for Klickitat County, two in Dallesport, and one at the site of the former Goldendale Aluminum plant. None of them have so far filed an application.

More than 40 people commented, citing a number of reasons for their opposition to data centers, and, at the very least, instituting a six-month moratorium on data centers, as moved by Andrews.

“The people have spoken,” said one commenter. “Represent the people, not the corporations.” This, near the end, drew hearty cheering and applause.

The other two commissioners rejected the need for a moratorium, saying that none of the proposed data center projects were far enough along in the process to submit an application this year, and saying they could have an ordinance strictly regulating data centers inside 90 days.

Data center discussion Sept. 1

In the formal afternoon session at the Sept. 1 Klickitat County Commissioners meeting, much of the discussion was about data centers. Several people questioned why the other two members of the board did not support Commissioner Todd Andrews’ motion last week to enact a six-month moratorium on data centers in the county, as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News.

Another person questioned the classification of data centers as warehouses under Title 19 zoning ordinances, which would allow them as an outright permitted use in industrial parks, and wondered where and when that decision had been made.

The answer? The Feb. 21 meeting of the county planning commission in 2023, which concluded that “Data centers are good target markets for Klickitat County.”