City Commission - workshop

This is BTV News Now.

The Brownsville City Commission held a special workshop Tuesday to discuss proposed regulations for future data centers, the possibility of a 90-day moratorium on new projects. The draft ordinance would limit data centers to heavy industrial zoning districts and require a special use permit before construction could begin. The proposal also includes safeguards such as closed-loop cooling systems, five-acre site limits, one-mile buffers from neighborhoods and schools, and requirements for utility coordination and water disposal.

That's not for the city or the planning department to call how much is too much. That should be on whichever public utility company operates in that particular part of the city.

City officials say the goal is to support economic development while protecting neighborhoods, infrastructure, and natural resources.

That allows us to do some more research and propose more fine-tuned policy for the city commission to consider. They can adopt some of those or reject some of those or change them. So it's a working time, so to speak.

The proposed regulations and the possible 90-day moratorium are expected to return to the Brownsville City Commission for future consideration. For Brownsville TV News, I'm Laura B. Martinez.