DIXON, CA (MPG) – Dixon will consider implementing a 45-day ban on data centers and battery energy storage systems during a special City Council meeting Wednesday, Sept. 30.

The meeting, to take place at 6 p.m. at the Senior/Multi-Use Center, 201 S. Fifth St. in Dixon, will consider an urgency ordinance to establish a temporary moratorium on new applications for data centers and battery energy storage systems within city limits. 

“This action would be strictly intended to press pause on potential applications so that we can do our due diligence in researching and understanding these types of developments,” Dixon Mayor Steve Bird said in a press release. 

“It could afford Dixon the time to take a step back and evaluate the best possible options as we navigate uncharted territory and seek to make the best decisions for our community going forward,” he said. 

The special meeting was prompted by recent city council discussions regarding Dixon’s regulations and ability to manage these specific types of development, as well as a noticeable statewide increase in the development of data centers and battery energy storage system facilities, according to the city’s press release. 

To adopt a moratorium, the City Council must find that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety or welfare. 

An interim ordinance may be adopted as an urgency measure without a noticed public hearing and would remain in effect for 45 days, according to the city. It may be extended twice for a total of two years. 

If the temporary moratorium is adopted, Dixon officials anticipate the council voting within 45 days to extend the moratorium for an additional 10-1/2 months, according to a summary report prepared by city attorney Douglas White. 

Adoption of the interim urgency ordinance and any extension require a four-fifths vote of the City Council. 

The next regularly scheduled city council meeting is set for Oct. 6.

The Dixon Municipal Code does not identify data centers – structures that run large numbers of computers securely and continuously – as a permitted use. When a proposed use is not defined, the community development director must classify it as a use substantially similar in character to a listed use. 

“Absent data-center-specific regulations, the City faces uncertainty in processing, entitling, and conditioning a proposed data center. An applicant could, for example, seek to classify a data center as similar to a utility or telecommunication facility, whose standards were not designed to address the electricity, water, noise, and infrastructure impacts of large-scale data centers,” according to White’s summary report.

A temporary moratorium will also provide the city with time to properly incorporate recently passed state requirements into land use regulation.

Any moratorium would not impact nearby proposed battery storage facilities being discussed. These include the Corby Battery Energy Storage System proposed by NextEra Energy near the intersection of Kilkenny Road and Byrnes Road in Solano County and the Vaca Dixon Power Center project in Vacaville.

Battery energy storage systems, also called BESS, store energy for later use with the idea of boosting grid reliability and supporting renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Challenges with such systems include fire risks, impact on farmland and effects connected with battery disposal.