The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously to take the first step toward a temporary moratorium on the development of new data centers in the city, Mayor Mattie Parker said in a statement issued after the vote.
The moratorium will not take effect until the city completes a series of state-mandated steps, according to the statement. A City of Fort Worth webpage outlining the regulatory timeline says the council took up the item at its Aug. 11 meeting and that final action to enact the moratorium would not be considered until December.
Parker said the council also established the Fort Worth Data Center & Infrastructure Commission, to be led by Mike Slattery, director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at Texas Christian University, and adopted a city ordinance requiring every new data center application to include evidence of grid interconnection approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
“There is understandable concern across our city, state, and country about the infrastructure demands and potential environmental impacts of data centers, amplified by rapid technological change, partisan election battles, conflicting information, and uncertainty about AI’s future,” Parker said in the statement. “At the same time, data center development is critical to our future economy and national security.”
The mayor said the expert commission is intended to guide the city through what she called critical months this fall, allowing Fort Worth to act ahead of the legislative session with a framework she described as data-backed and evidence-based. She framed the package as an effort to enact smart regulations and bolster existing ordinances while keeping the city competitive, attracting high-tech investment and expanding the municipal tax base.
Parker said the council’s vote aligns with Gov. Greg Abbott’s audit and temporary pause on data center development across the state, adding that she believes a statewide framework is critical given the effect of the developments on electric grid and water systems.
The mayor said the city has heard from residents through public comment opportunities, community engagement and extensive polling, and cited a recent Gallup poll finding that about seven out of 10 Americans oppose the development of AI data centers in their communities. Few zoning-related issues draw that level of public interest, she said.
“It is our responsibility as policymakers to move forward, understanding these concerns, to find solutions that protect what matters most to our residents while building a stronger future for Fort Worth,” Parker said.