The data center fight in Desert Hot Springs, California
Desert Hot Springs has an active data center moratorium on this tracker. Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
45-day urgency ordinance extended unanimously on Jul 7 by 22 months 15 days — the full two years California law allows
Source
read 2026-08-04
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Where the decision gets made
City Council — Ordinances, land use and the city budget across four districts plus an at-large mayor. Desert Hot Springs extended its data center moratorium to two years (through mid-2028).
Meets: See the council's published agenda calendar
Where: City Hall, 11999 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
Public comment: See the council's Agendas, Minutes & Videos portal for the public-comment process.
760-329-6411 · website
Read from the official page on 2026-08-07. Meeting details change — confirm before you go.
Who votes on it
| Name | Role | Phone | Recorded stance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Matas | Mayor | — | 760-329-6411 | not recorded |
| Dirk Voss | Mayor Pro Tem | — | 760-329-6411 | not recorded |
| Gary Gardner | Council Member | — | 760-329-6411 | not recorded |
| Daniel Pitts | Council Member | — | 760-329-6411 | not recorded |
| Jan Pye | Council Member | — | 760-329-6411 | not recorded |
From the locality's own roster page; "not recorded" means no public statement is on file, not neutrality.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in California.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- California briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Elsewhere in California
- Imperial County — Enactedexpires 2027-06-16
- Coachella — Enacted
- Monterey Park — Enacted
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.