LandmAInPolicy & Community
Aurora Lawmakers Reject Data Center Ban.
A 6–5 vote left Aurora one vote short of reconsidering a pause on new data center applications. The proposed Trident campus was already under review.
Six members of the Aurora, Colorado, City Council voted to revive a proposed data center ban on October 26, 2026. They needed seven. The 6–5 vote just before midnight left the city free to accept new data center applications. The proposed Trident campus near Green Valley Ranch was already under review and would have been exempt from the pause. Rocky Mountain Voice’s account of the vote and AuroraTV’s recording of the council meeting.
Why did Aurora’s data center ban fail with six votes in favor?
The six votes were for setting aside a council rule so members could reopen a debate they had settled in August. Seven members had to agree to that step before anyone could vote on the proposed ban itself. Mayor Mike Coffman had broken a tie against a six-month pause in August. By October, he was trying to bring the issue back with Council Member Amy Wiles, according to Colorado Public Radio’s account of the mayor’s reversal.
The October proposal had no fixed end date. Aurora would pause new data center applications until city rules governing where and how the facilities could be built took effect. “We needed this moratorium and you all failed us,” resident Garry Zimmerman told council members, according to Sentinel Colorado’s reporting from the chamber.
Would the ban have stopped the Trident data center?
No. Aurora had already accepted the application for Vantage Data Centers’ Trident project near East 48th Avenue and E-470. Even if the council had adopted the pause, Trident’s application would still have been under review. The October 26 vote neither approved the campus nor decided where it would go. Denver7’s reporting on the Trident site and Vantage’s letter to Aurora and Sentinel Colorado’s account of which projects the proposal covered.
For residents of Windler and Green Valley Ranch, including a nearby senior community, the question was how close a campus could come to their homes. Vantage asked Aurora to hold off on new rules for 90 days while it explored other locations. The company said it was still pursuing the original site. Council members Curtis Gardner and Françoise Bergan cited the request as one reason they opposed reopening the moratorium debate. Colorado Public Radio’s interviews and account of the council discussion.
How close could a new Aurora data center come to homes?
Aurora was still debating that distance on October 26. At a study session earlier that day, Wiles proposed keeping new data centers at least 750 feet from homes. Between 750 feet and half a mile, a project would need a public hearing and conditional approval. Council members advanced the idea for further review. The proposed distances had yet to become city law. Reporting on Aurora’s proposed residential buffer.
One narrower restriction did pass that night. The council voted unanimously to prohibit data centers in Aurora’s mixed-use office and institutional zoning district. That change left the Trident application unaffected. Sentinel Colorado’s report on the adopted zoning change.
Outside Aurora, Arapahoe County is writing its own rules
Unincorporated Arapahoe County still has no approval path for a standalone data center. County planners say the land-use code does not list a data center as an allowed use in any district. On October 19, all five county commissioners supported drafting rules that could allow one. As of November 2, the county had published no draft naming eligible eastern industrial or rural districts, setting a distance from homes, or specifying whether a project would need a public hearing. County staff’s October 19 analysis, reporting on the commissioners’ direction and the county’s proposed code amendments.
Power and water are among the questions that draft could address. County staff identified electrical grid capacity and letters from water providers confirming whether they could serve a project. Staff also raised the possibility of reviewing projects differently according to their peak power demand. County records through November 2 showed no new data-center-specific power threshold, moratorium or referral to the Planning Commission. Arapahoe County’s briefing on electricity and water service and the Board’s November 2 agenda.
When could Aurora reconsider the ban?
Mayor Coffman said he would try again at the November 9 council meeting. Before then, Aurora scheduled a public listening session on data centers for November 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Aurora Central Library. Aurora’s public events calendar and Sentinel Colorado’s report on Coffman’s November 9 plans.