Los Angeles County’s planning director Thursday ordered an immediate prohibition on the development of large-scale data centers that power artificial intelligence in unincorporated areas of the county.
Department of Regional Planning Director Amy Bodek issued the directive in a memorandum Thursday, saying it is intended to serve as interim guidance for planning staff while the county moves toward codifying the prohibition in its zoning regulations.
Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda Solis said she introduced a motion in April addressing public health and environmental concerns surrounding data centers. The motion was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors.
“I introduced it in response to concerns raised by San Gabriel Valley residents who were understandably concerned about the effects of data centers in their communities, concerns that have since been reflected nationwide,” Solis said in a statement Thursday.
“As a necessary next step to address these concerns, the county’s report back on that motion identified zoning changes that would prohibit these facilities. The need for such a ban has only been further underscored by alarming developments from the AI sector on catastrophic impacts the technology may have on humanity,” Solis added.
Solis said she intends to bring additional actions before the Board of Supervisors to implement recommendations from the departments of Regional Planning and Public Health to amend the county’s zoning code and prohibit data centers powering artificial intelligence in unincorporated areas.
In the meantime, the Department of Regional Planning’s guidance will prohibit such facilities while the zoning amendment process moves forward, Solis said.
She thanked county departments, residents and other stakeholders who raised concerns about data centers and said she remains committed to ensuring technological growth does not come at the expense of public health, environmental protections or residents’ quality of life.
In January, a group of Monterey Park residents participated in a community meeting hosted by San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action, which bills itself as a “grassroots, community-driven organization focused on environmental justice, transparency, and equitable development in the San Gabriel Valley.”
The organization says it is not affiliated with any political party, according to its website.
At the time, the group and residents criticized a proposal to build a massive data center by SDCF Monterey Park, LLC, as reported by LA Public Press. The project was introduced in 2024.
The applicant proposed to demolish vacant commercial buildings at 1977 Saturn St. and construct a 218,400 square foot single-story data center on 15.8 acres of land. Residents had shared environmental concerns about living next to a data center, such as the potential pollution of air, land and water.
Ultimately, in response to concerns from residents, the Monterey Park City Council imposed a 45-day moratorium on data centers and later extended it while city staff worked to codify planning and zoning codes to ban data centers outright.
In June, Monterey Park voters approved Measure NDC, amending the land use element to prohibit all data centers unless repealed by future voters.
Monterey Park’s measure to ban data centers was a first of its kind in California.
The City Council of neighboring Industry unanimously approved a change in zoning laws in February, allowing the construction of a battery storage site. The action sparked criticisms from city residents and people living nearby in La Puente and the unincorporated communities of Rowland Heights, Avocado Heights, Hacienda Heights and South San Jose Hills.
Concerned residents expressed concerns that Industry was creating a pathway for a new data center that would take over its mostly vacant Puente Hills Mall. The No Data Centers SGV coalition opposed the project, which consists of members from the San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action, Avocado Heights Vaquer@s, Puente Hills Community Preservation Society, SGVoices, Party for Socialism and Liberation and No Data Center Monterey Park.
In late April, the city councils of El Monte and Baldwin Park also voted to implement a yearlong ban on data centers proposed within their city limits.
Data centers have existed in the country before, and the construction of them has increased in recent years. These facilities run AI technology and California has at least 287 data centers.
In 2024, data centers provided more than 665,000 jobs in the state and generated $14.1 billion in state and local taxes, according to a report from The Data Center Coalition, which bills itself as “the trade association for the data center industry with members that own data centers operate and maintain data center infrastructure both nationally and globally.”
Companies such as Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are expected to spend a combined $700 billion on data centers globally by the end of the year, according to a report by The New York Times.
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