Tuolumne County Planning Commission Hears Opposition To Data Centers

Published Oct 22, 2026 8:37 am

TC Planning Commission hears input on data centers - Photo by BJ Hansen

Sonora, CA — Around 65 people packed into the Tuolumne County Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday afternoon when there was discussion about developing an ordinance regulating data centers.

Community Development Director Tamera Blankenship opened by stressing that no formal action was being taken at the meeting. She explained that staff is still reviewing community feedback to draft an ordinance, which will later go before both the Planning Commission for recommendation and the Board of Supervisors for a final vote.

Blankenship outlined three main regulatory paths:

• Allowing data centers “by right”
• Requiring a Conditional Use Permit (which mandates a public hearing)
• Enacting a moratorium or full ban

Other key considerations include whether data centers should be restricted to industrial zones and if set setbacks from populated areas should be required. Blankenship emphasized that there are currently no data center proposals in Tuolumne County, but the county is proactively preparing for the possibility while also monitoring upcoming state regulations.

During the public comment period, all 20 speakers who came up voiced opposition to data centers. Community members expressed concerns regarding high electricity and water consumption, noise, light pollution, environmental impacts, health risks, and potential damage to the local tourism economy. One speaker, who works at an out-of-county data center, urged commissioners to reject such developments. A petition calling for a complete ban was also circulated among attendees.

Commissioners spent time discussing the need to clearly define what constitutes a data center, noting the vast differences in project sizes and types.

“The definition of a data center is going to be an issue,” said Commissioner Jim Garaventa. “If we consider server rooms at, say, Walmart, or the hospital, or the county, is that considered a data center? That is not going to be an industrial zoning district; that’s going to be a commercial district. So, a finer definition of what is a data center, and what is not, under this ordinance, is going to be key.”

One suggestion raised during the meeting was defining project types based on energy consumption.

Commissioner Sasha Farkas echoed concerns about inadvertently over-regulating essential commercial infrastructure. “That’s something in the future I would love to hear from the general public,” Farkas said. “Do we ban all of them? Do we say ‘no’, and then the hospital has to have a server room out of the county, or the county has to do a server room out of the county? Those are things we have to consider.”

Acknowledging the complexities of the issue, Commissioner Ron Kopf added, “Part of the research that we are going to be putting together is going to be looking at what elements we want to put in place that would say ‘no’ and would exceed where we want to go as a county. We all moved here because we like this rural area, and we want to keep it as a rural area. Are there places where it could be done? What size should it be done at? All of the comments that were brought up today, I think, are very viable. I’ve taken a lot of notes, and I know staff has taken a lot of notes, that we need to look at.”

Commission Chair Jerry Morrow thanked attendees for their participation. Several commissioners reassured the crowd that they are approaching the topic independently without influence from the Board of Supervisors, emphasizing that no decisions have been finalized.

Staff will use the input gathered at Wednesday’s meeting to help draft the formal ordinance for future review.