Ottawa city council has unanimously approved a plan to develop new rules for large-scale data centres, but what those rules will look like has yet to be decided.
Council approved a motion from Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante directing city staff to develop a framework for assessing data centre proposals based on their size and potential impacts, including environmental considerations.
The proposed framework will come back to council next year for approval.
“This motion isn’t anti-data centre,” Plante told council, describing it as a middle ground between calls for a moratorium and an unrestricted approach to new development.
In the meantime, staff will notify council if the city receives an application for a “hyperscale” data centre, defined by city staff as a massive facility requiring at least 50 megawatts of electricity.
That would give councillors the opportunity to consider an interim control bylaw, which could temporarily prevent such a project from moving ahead while the city develops its new policy.
The decision comes amid growing concern about the strain data centres could place on the city’s electricity grid.
Hydro Ottawa CEO Bryce Conrad told council back in June that the utility was facing “extraordinary pressure” from large electricity users.
Plante had previously told the Citizen she supported a temporary moratorium on new large-scale AI data centres and was working on a motion addressing the issue.
Several Ontario municipalities are already considering how to handle data centre development.
The municipal government in Oakville, Ont. recently imposed a one-year moratorium, while Toronto is studying possible new rules. Hamilton’s city council rejected a one-year moratorium in July.
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