AWS won staff-level approval for a $2 billion data center campus in Gilroy, California, without a City Council vote or Planning Commission hearing. The 56-acre project would total about 438,500 sq ft, with an initial 218,000-sq-ft phase approved July 3, 2023 under long-standing industrial zoning. Residents have raised concerns about water use, fire safety, and the lack of public notice. Gilroy officials are now considering new rules that would require commission review and direct community notification for future data-center proposals.
Amazon’s $2B Gilroy Data Center Approved Without Public Vote — Residents Protest Water, Fire Risk, and Lack of Notice
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Gilroy, California — best known as the 'Garlic Capital of the World' — is now the site of a very different development: a proposed Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center campus on a 56-acre parcel off Camino Arroyo that residents say advanced with little public notice.
What Happened
AWS secured staff-level approval for a roughly $2 billion data center campus without a City Council vote or a Planning Commission hearing. The full campus is planned at about 438,500 square feet, with an initial phase of roughly 218,000 square feet. City records show AWS purchased the site in 2020, and Gilroy’s community development director signed off on the first phase on July 3, 2023.
How Approval Was Granted
According to city documents, the parcel’s long-standing industrial zoning permitted administrative approval by city staff, so no public hearing was legally required. City officials say the same staff-approval process has been applied to warehouses and food-processing facilities in the past, a point Mayor Greg Bozzo reiterated to local reporters.
Community Reaction and Concerns
Many residents contend a hyperscale cloud campus presents a much larger footprint and a different set of impacts than typical industrial uses. Primary concerns include:
Water Use: In an agricultural region where water is already scarce, residents worry the facility’s water demands could strain local supplies.
Fire Risk: Residents and local first responders have raised questions about fire-safety planning for large data centers.
Public Notice and Input: There is frustration that the project advanced without a public hearing or broad community outreach before approval.
Why This Matters
Data centers that support AI and cloud services consume large amounts of electricity and can increase water usage for cooling, creating potential stress on local utility infrastructure and household bills. While AI can help utilities forecast and manage demand, the physical facilities powering AI growth can still burden energy and water systems if local planning rules do not specifically address those impacts.
Next Steps
Gilroy officials say they are considering policy changes for future data center proposals, including mandatory Planning Commission review, community meetings, and direct mailed notices to nearby residents. An AWS spokesperson, Roger Wehner, said the company understood residents wanted earlier engagement and that it held an open house for the community, according to Gadget Review citing the Wall Street Journal.
Sources: City permit records; Gadget Review (via Yahoo); reporting in the Wall Street Journal.
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