A proposal to ban data centers in Riverside has two parts moving toward the City Council: a permanent prohibition proposed by Councilmember Philip Falcone, and a temporary pause recommended by a council committee, according to the Raincross Gazette.
Falcone’s September 14 memo calls for writing an explicit ban into the city’s land-use code. The Gazette reported that the Land Use Committee unanimously recommended a 90-day pause on new data-center proposals while staff works on a definition and the permanent policy moves forward.
Neither step should be read as an adopted citywide rule. The city records checked for this story on October 6 did not show a council date or council action on a moratorium or an ordinance.
Why write a ban into the code?
According to Falcone’s memo, city staff already interprets Riverside’s code as prohibiting data centers. But the code does not name them.
The memo cites Section 19.150.020: a use missing from the city’s permitted-uses table is prohibited unless the community and economic development director finds it similar to, and no more detrimental than, a listed use.
Falcone’s proposed ordinance would make the prohibition explicit. His memo asks the council to direct the City Attorney’s Office to prepare it, then send it to the Planning Commission and back to the council for final approval.
What would count as a data center?
The memo proposes defining a data center as a facility where more than 50 percent of its primary operations involve functions such as AI computing, cloud computing, centralized data storage or server operations. The definition would apply regardless of the facility’s square footage.
It also proposes preventing a data center from being established as an accessory to another use, such as a job-training facility. Both provisions are proposals, not adopted rules.
Land Use Committee Chair Clarissa Cervantes questioned whether the 50 percent threshold could leave a loophole, the Gazette reported. Falcone said he was open to changing it.
The committee’s proposed pause
The memo calls for a permanent prohibition and does not mention a moratorium. The temporary pause comes from the Gazette’s account of the September 14 committee meeting.
The outlet reported that Community & Economic Development Director Miranda Evans recommended a moratorium to give the city time to prepare definitions. The committee then voted unanimously to recommend that the full council adopt a 90-day urgency moratorium on new proposals.
Most public commenters supported a citywide ban, while two urged a study first, according to the Gazette.
Under the process described by the outlet, the permanent policy would return to the Land Use Committee once staff has a definition, then go to the Planning Commission. The City Council would decide on any permanent ordinance.
Riverside already has at least three smaller data centers, the Gazette reported. The committee did not discuss how the measures would affect those facilities.
What the city’s records showed
We checked three city records on October 6:
- The online file for the proposal, item 26-2992, listed it as “Agenda Ready” under the Land Use Committee, with no action history shown.
- The City Council’s October 6 agenda contained no data-center item.
- The city’s meeting calendar listed the Planning Commission’s October 8 meeting as canceled.
Those records did not show a council date or council action on a moratorium or an ordinance. That is a limit of the records checked, rather than a finding that no date or action existed elsewhere.
We have not reviewed minutes or a recording of the committee meeting. The committee vote and the proposed 90-day duration remain attributed to the Gazette’s reporting.
Update, October 14: Revised the headline and opening, reorganized the article for clarity and added key points. The facts and sources are unchanged. The observations about the city’s records remain as of October 6.