San Francisco Signs a 45-Day Pause on New Data Centres While the City Works Out What It Has
Mayor Daniel Lurie signed Supervisor Shamann Walton's moratorium on his deadline day, giving planners time to study energy, water and community effects in a city unsure how many it hosts.
Outspoken Digest Technology Desk
Sunday, October 18, 2026/2 min read
San Francisco is the capital of the AI boom and, as of Friday, a place where nobody can start a new data centre. Mayor Daniel Lurie signed a 45-day moratorium on 16 October, the last day he could, according to the San Francisco Standard. The ordinance would have taken effect without his signature.
The measure was written by Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the city's southeast. The Board of Supervisors approved it unanimously after Board President Rafael Mandelman fast-tracked it, the Standard reports.
What does the moratorium actually do?
It halts new data centres citywide for 45 days while the Planning Department studies their effects on water, energy, air quality, land use and surrounding communities. Mission Local, reporting on the 6 October board vote, says it also pauses the expansion of NOVVA, a data centre on Paul Avenue in Bayview planned to grow from nine to 36 megawatts by 2028, and puts on hold a permitted 160,000-square-foot facility on Michigan Street in Dogpatch where no construction has started.
The ordinance defines a data centre broadly, as any facility or part of one that houses computing infrastructure. If the study finds a significant environmental impact, the pause could be extended up to 22 months, or lead to permanent controls. Planners will report at a hearing when the 45 days end.
How many data centres does San Francisco have?
Nobody is certain. In September the Standard reported that the Planning Department did not know how many exist. Data Center Map counts at least six, two of them in Bayview-Hunters Point, which the Standard says has more industrial zoning than any other neighbourhood. Walton has criticised the zoning code for lacking a true definition of a data centre.
What did officials say?
Walton told Mission Local the city needs to know the impacts and that until it does, "it needs to stop". He wants transparency on water and energy demand, enforceable community benefits and resident input before approvals. Mission Local also reports that sources close to his office hope the pause leads to a permanent ban.
Lurie's statement promised a "thoughtful, responsible framework" that puts community needs, low electricity rates and clean water and air first. It did not mention data centres by name. The Standard reported no organised opposition and quoted no one against the pause.
Board President Rafael Mandelman said Walton had done the city a service in forcing it to think about the issue, and the measure was co-sponsored by supervisors Connie Chan, Jackie Fielder and Cheyenne Chen, Mission Local reports. Both the Dogpatch and Bayview projects show why the timing matters: one is permitted but unbuilt, and the other is an operating site planning to quadruple in size.
The study will land in about six weeks. The answer to the simplest question, how many are already here, may turn out to be the most revealing.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
Editorial desk
Outspoken Digest Technology DeskSoftware, hardware, artificial intelligence and what they change for everyone else.
Newsletter
The Digest, in your inbox
One edition, sent when it is ready. No noise, and your address is never passed on.
Read Next
More Technology →
Webb Caught a Probable Supernova From the Early Universe Only Days After It Exploded
Oct 18, 2026/2 min read
Webb Maps an Exoplanet's Atmosphere as Egg-Shaped, With a Puffed-Up Evening Side Hotter Than Its Morning Edge
Oct 18, 2026/2 min read
A Hole in a 75,000-Year-Old Shoulder Blade Points to a Wooden Spear, and Perhaps to Neanderthal Care
Oct 18, 2026/2 min read
Anthropic's Own Staff Data: Junior Technical Hires Fell From 27 to 9 Percent as Its AI Agents Outworked Humans
Oct 18, 2026/2 min read