Austin City Council adopts regulations for local data centers

August 31, 2026

The City Council voted unanimously Thursday to require city staff to develop land use, site development and business regulations specific to data centers. Council members amended the resolution to add rules covering landscaping, heat effects and impacts to flood plains, and they charged City Manager T.C. Broadnax with recommending enforcement mechanisms for the new rules.

The move follows a separate instruction from Governor Greg Abbott to audit hundreds of projects, including data centers, before those sites can be tied into the Texas power grid. Council members described the local regulations as part of Austin's response to that state action and as a way to set city standards for these facilities.

A city staff memo dated Aug. 19 outlines possible regulatory steps, including enforcing water and other resource use performance standards. The memo also suggests restricting generator use to reduce potential noise and air pollution from on-site backup power systems.

Austin Energy identified 10 data centers inside the city, the staff memo notes. None of those facilities meet Texas law's definition of a large-load data center, which is any center that can draw at least 75 megawatts at a given moment. The memo adds that one megawatt can power roughly 250 homes.

Council Member Zohaib Qadri, who represents District 9 that includes the University of Texas and the West Campus area, told colleagues he had received constituent concerns about data centers. He emphasized environmental worries tied to rapid growth in hyperscale facilities, which industry descriptions say can cover millions of square feet, and warned about pressure on energy and water resources and potential effects on the city's financial health.

City staff will now draft the proposed regulations and prepare enforcement recommendations for the city manager to present to Council. The next formal steps will depend on those drafts and any subsequent Council consideration.