Remarks by Drew Morris
61 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 3
- Play at 1:45:10
“Okay, great. So bottom line is we'd still be protected as a city?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:50:03
“Can we clarify what 10 acre feet is so that we all understand that number in terms of gallons per year?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:50:15
“About three million gallons a year. Okay. Thank you.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:58:05
“I definitely believe Council should develop clear regulations before Thornton is confronted with a project that's potentially put under pressure. If we're going to use a moratorium to create that time, I want the ordinance itself to clearly define what we intend to accomplish. So I do have several amendments I'd like to explore. I'd like to make a motion to amend the moratorium timeframe from 12 months to six months.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:58:42
“All right. One of the stated reasons during our discussions for this 12-month moratorium is that the Colorado General Assembly may consider data center legislation during the 2027 session. I don't find that to be a compelling reason to wait. Thornton is a home rural municipality. Our charter gives us broad powers of local self-government, and our own development code expressly identifies land use regulation and zoning with Thornton as a matters deeply connected to home rural. I think we should act like a home rural city. We on our own are able to begin determining where data centers should be…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:00:21
“I'd like to make a motion to amend section five of the ordinance with two changes. First, to remove the phrase, quote, if directed to do so by city council, end quote. I also move to add the following elements to section five. Quote, within 90 days of the effective date of this ordinance, staff shall present to City Council an initial regulatory gap analysis. Within 180 days of the effective date of this ordinance, staff shall present proposed permanent regulations for consideration by City Council, end quote.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:01:25
“All right, the reason I'm proposing this amendment, it's pretty straightforward. If we believe our regulations are inadequate enough to justify stopping new applications, then I believe this ordinance should actually direct the city to fix those regulations. As currently written, section five directs the city manager to investigate the issue, but says regulations would only be prepared, quote, if directed to do so by city council. I don't think council should have to come back later and give a second direction to do the very thing we're saying the moratorium is intended to give us time to…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:02:39
“All right, move to amend the ordinance by removing the word submission from the title and from section two. And by adding language to section two, clarifying that the moratorium does not prohibit pre-application meetings, conceptual discussions, technical consultation, or other non-binding review with city staff. And move for its approval. Second.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:03:09
“Application discussion, that's right clarifying that the moratorium does not prohibit pre-application meetings conceptual discussions technical consultation or other non-binding review with city city staff miss Whitney Just just to clarify.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:03:41
“Yes. The reason I'm proposing this amendment is that I do not think that a moratorium should mean our staff stops talking to the very people who understand how these facilities are actually designed and built. If the purpose of this moratorium is to develop better regulations, then I want staff gathering as much real-world information as possible during that period. A prospective applicant may bring us information about cooling systems, water demand, electrical loads, building design, noise, generators, landscaping, infrastructure needs, or technologies that we have not yet considered. Those…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:05:01
“All right, I do appreciate the discussion tonight, but I cannot support the ordinance in its current form. I want to be equally clear that my vote is not a vote against data center regulation. I support effective and protective regulations. I care about how Thornton builds out. I care about protecting our water, infrastructure, neighborhoods, and public resources. And I want council to be intentional about where high impact uses belong and what standards they must meet. My concern is with the tool we are using to get there. I propose these amendments because if Council is going to use a…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 58:22
“Good evening everyone. Thank you everyone who showed up to share info about data center moratoriums. Appreciate the engagement in the study or the update session and then here tonight. I think to be clear, everyone on this council is for regulating data centers and protecting our communities. The legal method by which we do that is the question So I do appreciate the input and the ideas and open consider all voices in my in really all decisions and To Jacob's point, you know, I'll continue to have an opinion on every dollar spent in our city I'm sure there'll be times where we'll disagree,…”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:32:14
“That question about the CSP Maybe this is First, how much green space is allocated on site?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:32:24
“Like parks and I know that the CSP itself, it seemed like there was a green, kind of quite a bit of park area. Do we know that amount?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:32:50
“Got it. This is going to be my other question. Is there a minimum in that you answered that? There is a minimum requirement on site for the green space?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:33:01
“And that can't be amended through cash in lieu?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:33:30
“Sure. So where my question comes from, or the concern it stems from, is it looks like on the CSP it would be very easy to get rid of a lot of green space to make it a continuous parking lot throughout that entire development. And I think that would be stepping backwards in terms of what we're trying to see in our city. So is there a way to guarantee that that doesn't happen at this site?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:34:14
“Okay, so will we have a say in that if it changes negatively?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:37:12
“Back on the green space question. So our code is 20% minimum based on your CSP right now What percentage are we seeing of green space and parks? Do you have that as an estimate?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:37:50
“You mean like the future CSP documents that are approved?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:38:12
“The basis for the question is I'm looking at a really nice CSP with a lot of green space. And if that's 20%, that's awesome, because I know that's what's going to happen. But if that's, you know, 35%, and we end up taking out a lot because of market demand, things like that, and we actually get a different product at the end of the day with a sea of asphalt, I think that, again, is the wrong direction for the site. So what I'm trying to get at is how do we guarantee that we get the green space that we're looking for?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:51:25
“I have a question on, it would be actually A4, so not this.”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:51:34
“Oh, got it, okay. Can we talk about planning area C on site? I know it's a floodplain. I think I saw in the presentation somewhere in the documents that there was potential for self-storage units. And I wanted to ask if we can not do that somehow. And is that, how do we go about it?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:52:21
“Okay, so the CSP doesn't call for that, right?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 1:53:01
“So it's allowed in Planning Area A, but it's not planned per the CSP?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026