An El Paso County town is looking at stopping data centers before they even show up
Michael Logerwell
MONUMENT, Colo. (KRDO) – On Thursday night, while angry Colorado Springs residents gathered to voice their opposition to the Project Taurus Data Center, the front step of Monument Town Hall was quiet.
That’s because there’s no data center proposal in the Town of Monument, and there could never be one as town leadership considers an outright ban on the proposition.
“We wanted to investigate what that looks like. So we asked them to start doing the research behind what data center impacts would be on Monument based on what we were seeing from a national trend,” Monument Mayor Mitch LaKind said he first directed the planning department to look into data centers after watching national news coverage. From Colorado to Utah, to Texas, and more, data centers have become synonymous with heated opposition from residents, concerns over water/energy usage, and more.
Due in part to that coverage, Mayor LaKind said he wanted to find out what rules the town had about data centers.
“Data centers have never been defined in Monument,” Mayor LaKind revealed. It turns out there were none.
However, that could soon change.
This week, the Monument Planning Department released its first report on data centers and their potential impact on Monument.
“We’re being really proactive and really intentional to make sure that we don’t do anything that’s going to harm the landscape. Our ability to keep our utility rates where they are, because they are already climbing anyway, but we don’t want to artificially inflate them by allowing a data center in. And we are concerned about the water usage,” Mayor LaKind said.
At the end of the interview, I asked Mayor LaKind straight up if Monument was off-limits to any data centers.
“I can’t unilaterally say that because we’ve not taken a vote on it, but I can say that we have no code that allows for their use. And we are looking to see what it means, whether we’re going to allow their use at all,” he replied.
KRDO13 will continue to follow this story as an ordinance potentially banning data centers makes its way to the town hall in Monument and other Southern Colorado municipalities.