Poway has permanently banned large, third-party artificial intelligence data centers from every zone in the city.
The Poway City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to give final approval to the ordinance on its second reading, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The ban amends the Poway Municipal Code and the South Poway Specific Plan. It takes effect 30 days after adoption, according to a city announcement.
Mayor Steve Vaus, who co-proposed the ordinance with Councilmember Anita Edmondson, said Poway is the first city in San Diego County to take the step.
"We are the first in the county to say no to AI data centers and I expect we will not be the last," Vaus said at the Oct. 6 meeting.
The ordinance defines the banned facilities as computer servers using high-density clusters of specialized processors, such as graphics processing units (GPUs) and tensor processing units (TPUs), that store, process or train AI applications for third-party entities.
A city staff report cited increasing evidence that AI data centers consume significant water and electricity, strain utility infrastructure, raise utility rates and pose risks to air quality and fire safety. The report also found that such facilities are largely automated, offering few permanent local jobs compared to traditional industrial and office uses in the South Poway Business Park.
Vaus framed the ban as a land use decision, not an anti-technology stance. The South Poway Business Park has a finite amount of land, he said, and AI data centers are not its highest and best use.
Councilmember Chris Pikus agreed. "I want the business park to be a business park for everyone, not just a mausoleum for data storage," Pikus said at the Oct. 6 meeting.
Edmondson said the ban is not about philosophical debates over AI's merits but about preserving land for businesses that bring sustained employment.
Public speaker John Szlyk told the council that data centers require large volumes of cooling water, have high energy needs and produce constant humming noise. He thanked the council for acting quickly.
Not every council member favored a permanent prohibition. Councilmember Jenny Maeda proposed a five-year moratorium instead of an outright ban at the Sept. 15 first reading, but her motion failed for lack of a second, NBC 7 San Diego reported.
Maeda did not block the final vote.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, council members discussed a potential 500,000-square-foot data center as a reference point for the scale of facilities the ban targets, Fox 5 San Diego reported. "I don't care how much money is on the table; our quality of life is not for sale," Vaus said at that meeting.
The ordinance takes effect Nov. 5.
