Should Benicia allow data centers? City grapples with zoning
Benicia Planning Commission is considering banning large-scale data centers and limiting smaller ones under the industrial zoning code.
As Benicia prepares for waves of development following the closure of the Valero Refinery, city officials will consider banning large-scale data centers and limiting smaller ones.
“Right now, if a data center wanted to come into our industrial park, they would be allowed ‘by right,’” City Manager Mario Giuliani told The Benicia Bridge.
The Benicia Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday and plans to vote that evening on recommended changes to the zoning code to add specific language regulating data centers. The City Council will have final say before any zoning changes are adopted.
Cities across the country – from Coachella to Corpus Christi – are adopting moratoriums or outright bans on large-scale data centers in response to public outcry over centers’ heavy resource use.
No data center has been proposed in Benicia, city officials said. The move is proactive.
Benicia’s proposed amendments would prohibit any data center over 50,000 square feet. Small data centers less than 50,000 square feet could be considered for a permit if the:
Average annual water consumption is no greater than 30 gallons per minute
Electrical design capacity is less than five megawatts (unless solar, wind, or geothermal energy is generated on-site).
The current zoning code was written in 1987, without anticipating the rise of AI data centers decades later.
“This is something that happened in Fairfield,” Giuliani told The Benicia Bridge. “Similarly, they had an older code and a data center went in without any public input, without any opportunity to go to the planning commission or city council.”
“Kudos to our staff for saying, ‘We want to be proactive. We want to make sure that we have at least an opportunity for review and say,” Giuliani said.
Benicians have inquired whether a data center could be built at the refinery site or in buffer land owned by Valero. While draft plans proposed by Valero-contracted Signature Development Group do include expanded industrial uses, a representative said in June they are “not contemplating” a data center there, according to reporting by the Vallejo Sun.
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Signature has proposed a mixed-use residential, commercial and industrial development for Valero’s property. Its industrial component “could include advanced manufacturing buildings to support new technology like robotics, light manufacturing, research and development, and other industrial-related uses,” Signature documents say.
Want to get in the weeds? Read the staff report and draft ordinance below.
