On Tuesday, August 11, the Fort Worth City Council voted overwhelmingly to start the process of enacting a 90-day ban on the city’s data center design.
Additionally, the town established the Fort Worth Data Center and Infrastructure Commission, which is led by Texas Christian University’s Dr. Mike Slattery, the institute’s director of environmental studies. Additionally, it established a law mandating that each new data center person must demonstrate that their network connection has been approved by the Texas Public Utility Commission and Texas ‘ Electric Reliability Council.
The area must comply with Section 212 of the Texas Local Government Code before the ban is lifted.
They include requirements for special observe and open hearings, as well as two readings of the moratorium ordinance no less than 28 days off.
The city must even publish written findings that support the moratorium” by demonstrating a need to prevent a shortage of important people facilities” or that “applying existing professional development ordinances or regulations and other relevant laws is insufficient to prevent the new development from being destructive to the public health, safety, or welfare of the municipality’s residents.”
The city had choose new development rules when the moratorium is over, which can be extended by 90 days.
Mayor Mattie Parker stated in a statement about the city’s actions that while “data center development is vital to our potential economy and national security,” the demands on the infrastructure and the economic effects of data centers are significant issues to address.
” It is our duty as policymakers to move ahead by fully understanding these issues and to find options that protect what our people value the most while ensuring Fort Worth’s future,” she continued.
According to Assistant City Manager Jesica McEachern, the ban does not use to any statistics facilities being built outside of Fort Worth’s town limits but is only provided by the city’s municipal water system.
Additionally, projects that have already received planning applications or have already been approved are exempt from the ban.
Its four information centre improvements, with a combined imprint of more than three million square feet, are within the city’s bounds, according to the City of Fort Worth. Fort Worth’s primary data center was constructed in 2000, and the most current one, completed in 2025, was it.
Four more projects have been proposed for the area in addition to the existing one that is currently being built in the city.
Over the past five years, data centers in Fort Worth have generated more than$ 83 million in gross property tax revenue. The estate tax revenue generated by data centers in 2024 was comparable to the estate tax revenue generated by about 8,300 typical single-family properties.
