Hayward’s council adopted an immediate moratorium on the same night Richmond extended its pause to 2028 and San Mateo County began weighing zoning limits, while Santa Clara, home to one of the region’s largest clusters, declined to act.
By Staff Reporter
The Hayward City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to stop considering or approving new data centers, joining a growing list of Bay Area governments that are slowing the spread of the power-hungry computing buildings that artificial intelligence companies want to build near Silicon Valley.
The urgency ordinance takes effect immediately and lasts 45 days, but under state law it can be extended for up to two years while the city writes permanent rules, the city said in a news release. City staff will use the time to study the cumulative effect of existing and future projects on “energy and water supplies, air quality, industrial noise levels, City emergency response capacity and City economic development priorities,” according to the release.
The same evening, the Richmond City Council extended its own moratorium to Sept. 15, 2028, and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors directed staff to study zoning restrictions. On Monday, Pittsburg’s council told its staff to draft a 45-day pause.
What Hayward already has
Hayward is not new to the industry. The city lists four existing or approved data centers clustered near Pacific Gas and Electric’s Eastern Substation in its western industrial district: a 24-megawatt facility and a 35-megawatt facility on Corporate Avenue, a 49-megawatt facility on Clawiter Road, and a 76.6-megawatt Stack data center under construction on Eden Landing Road.
Together those total about 185 megawatts, by the Inquirer’s calculation from the city’s figures. The city said a developer has approached it about two more data centers, each within half a mile of the existing ones. NBC Bay Area reported that the proposals are for two 99-megawatt buildings near Arden Road and Corporate Avenue, which would roughly double the city’s total.
The vote was largely a response to community objections that followed the May 2025 approval of the 310,000-square-foot Stack project, according to Bay City News.
Richmond, Pittsburg and San Mateo County
Richmond adopted a 45-day urgency moratorium on Sept. 15. On Tuesday, according to the council’s agenda, members took up an ordinance under Government Code Section 65858 extending the ban on new permits and land-use approvals for data centers by “an additional 22 months and 15 days, until September 15, 2028,” the longest extension the statute allows. The council approved it 7 to 0, The Bay Area Brief reported, citing The Richmond Monitor. City staff have written that their study will consider whether and under what rules data centers may be allowed, “including a possible full prohibition.”
In Pittsburg, the council voted 4 to 0 on Monday to have staff prepare a 45-day moratorium on A.I. data centers, Bay City News reported. It would apply to new projects and to the second and third phases of the AVAIO Perseus data center, approved in 2024 for the 76-acre Pittsburg Technology Park on the former Delta View Golf Course; the first phase could proceed. The council is scheduled to vote on Oct. 26. Gilroy’s council voted Monday to extend that city’s moratorium through September 2027, according to the same report.
San Mateo County’s action was more tentative. Supervisors approved a resolution directing the Planning and Building Department, the county executive and county counsel to assess zoning amendments for unincorporated areas, according to Bay City News. The original text contemplated a countywide ban, which was dropped.
“What we are contemplating is taking an initial step to assess what is best for our communities, our residents, and our local economy,” said Supervisor Lisa Gauthier, a sponsor. Supervisor Jackie Speier objected to the ban language: “I would rather us consider all the elements as opposed to going immediately to a countywide ban.” Ms. Gauthier said the San Mateo County Event Center had been solicited as a potential site.
Industry and the other side
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which represents many of the region’s largest employers, urged a middle course. “We support a collaborative approach that allows data centers to deliver significant tax revenues and infrastructure upgrades without harming local residents’ quality of life,” Eric Negomir, an associate with the group, told San Mateo supervisors.
The sharpest defense came from Santa Clara, which has one of the largest concentrations of data centers in the region. There, the council on Tuesday voted only to note and file a report on the pros and cons of a moratorium, The Silicon Valley Voice reported. City Manager Jovan Grogan said the city-owned utility, Silicon Valley Power, cannot currently supply new data centers and that approvals have effectively been on hold since 2023.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor called data centers the “jewel of the city” and said Santa Clara was the “gold standard.” Council Member Kevin Park countered that “residential rates keep going up, and it is not the residents that need the power.” Union leaders spoke in favor of the jobs the facilities bring.
What it means for the region
Taken together, the votes show Bay Area governments moving from a handful of early pauses, including those adopted by San Francisco, Oakland and Gilroy, toward a broader regional slowdown. Each moratorium is temporary, and none bans data centers outright. But each shifts the decision about where A.I. computing will be built from individual permit counters to council chambers, where electricity, water and noise now share the agenda with tax revenue and construction jobs.
For developers, the immediate effect is uncertainty in some of the few places near Silicon Valley with industrial land and substation capacity. For residents, the coming months of studies will be the first chance to see, in public documents, what a hyperscale building next door would demand of local grids and water systems. Hayward’s council must vote again within 45 days to keep its pause in place.
