Voters in Monterey Park on Tuesday approved the ballot measure by a margin of 86.3% to 13.7%, with more than 7,000 ballots counted as of early Wednesday. Councilmember Jose Sanchez, a former mayor and high school civics teacher, described the outcome as a “landslide victory” and said it “shows unequivocally that residents in Monterey Park do not want datacenters in their community.” He said he hopes other communities will use Monterey Park’s model “as inspiration to stop data centers from encroaching in their backyard.”
The city council had imposed an indefinite moratorium on data centers in April after residents mobilized against a proposed 250,000-square-foot facility by HMC StratCap, an investment company. The project, which would have been located near homes and schools, drew concerns over air quality, water consumption, noise, and rising utility costs. HMC StratCap later withdrew its application and has indicated it will not pursue legal action, though it had previously threatened to sue over a potential extension of the moratorium. In a March 4 letter to the city council, the company called the ballot measure’s language biased, arguing that it “is written in a manner that would greatly prejudice voters in favor of the measure.”
Sanchez said the council pursued the ballot measure to make the ban more permanent and to strengthen its standing against legal challenges. “Being able to go to court and say the residents of Monterey Park voted to ban datacenters is a much better gauge of where our residents are versus, only five city council members voted for an ordinance,” he said.
The local opposition was organized by grassroots groups including No Data Center in Monterey Park and the San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action. Amy J Wong, co-founder of the latter, said the council took residents’ concerns seriously, “which not a lot of city councils do.” Organizers had only two months to campaign. They printed 10,000 flyers and sent mailers in English, Chinese, and Spanish. Many voters were confused by the ballot language, Wong said. “We had to educate some people who thought supporting a ban means you’re supposed to vote ‘no’.”
The Data Center Coalition, a trade association that tracks development of the facilities across the country, opposes the measure. Khara Boender, the group’s director of state policy, said the ban “would deprive local residents of the opportunity to compete for jobs and investment, while also causing the area to relinquish substantial long-term economic investment, high-wage jobs, and critical tax revenue to neighboring areas or other states.” The coalition said it is not aware of any other data-center-related ballot measures that have passed beyond Monterey Park’s and one in Port Washington, Wisconsin, which required voter approval before offering developers tax incentives.
The Monterey Park vote is part of a broader wave of local resistance to data center development. At least a dozen states are considering statewide moratoriums this legislative session, though none have been enacted. In Pennsylvania and Georgia, gubernatorial candidates have made data center regulation a campaign issue. In Michigan, a township approved a 12-month pause on water for data centers. Virginia lawmakers voted to end a $1.6 billion annual tax break for the industry. California is not currently considering a statewide moratorium, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer has walked back his support for one. The cities of El Monte, Baldwin Park, and Montebello have approved temporary bans.
The rapid expansion of AI data centers has drawn scrutiny over their environmental footprint and strain on local infrastructure. A Gallup poll released this week found that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers in their local areas.
Sanchez, whose students and nine-year-old daughter frequently ask him about data centers, said the vote reflects a generational demand for accountability. “They give me an earful,” he said.