Alamosa CO one-year data center and battery storage moratorium (2026)
Alamosa, Colorado — Council Unanimously Approves a One-Year Moratorium on Data Centers and Large Battery Storage, With Some Councillors Reported Eager to Ban Data Centers From the City PERMANENTLY (2026)
Alamosa, CO · Alamosa, Colo. — unanimous one-year moratorium on data centers and large battery storage (2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- September 1, 2027
- Applies to
- Developers of data centers and large battery storage in Alamosa during the moratorium
- Enforced by
- Alamosa City Council
Alamosa's council UNANIMOUSLY approved a ONE-YEAR moratorium on data centers and large battery storage, and the reporting notes that SOME COUNCILLORS WERE EAGER TO BAN DATA CENTERS FROM THE CITY LIMITS PERMANENTLY. That last detail is the useful one. A moratorium adopted by a body where members are already pressing for a permanent ban is a different proposition from one adopted as a genuine study period — it signals the likely destination, and it is the pattern that produced permanent prohibitions in Monterey Park, Irwindale and Cumberland, each of which began with a pause. Alamosa also pairs data centers with LARGE BATTERY STORAGE, joining Elkhart, Zeeland Township, West Mahanoy Township and Leominster in recognising that the computing load arrives with energy infrastructure attached. The geography matters here: Alamosa sits in Colorado's San Luis Valley, a high-desert closed basin under acute water-rights pressure, and Rio Grande County in the same valley went further still, adopting a resolution prohibiting large-scale or hyperscale data centers outright.
Who is protected: Alamosa residents in Alamosa County, Colorado, and San Luis Valley water users
Legal detail
Alamosa, Colo. (Alamosa County, San Luis Valley) — ONE-YEAR MORATORIUM on data centers and LARGE BATTERY STORAGE approved UNANIMOUSLY by the City Council on a Wednesday, 'with some councilors eager to permanently ban data centers from the city limits'. THE RECORDED APPETITE FOR A PERMANENT BAN IS THE ANALYTICALLY USEFUL DETAIL: a pause adopted by a body whose members are already pressing for prohibition is a signal of destination, and this dataset records that trajectory completing elsewhere — Monterey Park Data Center Ban (Measure NDC) (45-day moratorium, later extended while staff codified an outright ban, then Measure NDC put the ban to voters), Irwindale CA data center ban ordinance (2026) (permanent zoning-code prohibition), Cumberland RI data center zoning prohibition, Ordinance 26-22 (2026). PAIRED SCOPE: data centers plus large battery storage, joining Elkhart IN data center and battery storage moratorium (2026), Zeeland Township MI data center and energy facility moratorium (2026) (energy facilities), West Mahanoy Township PA curative amendment, data centers and solar (2026) (solar and on-site generation) and Leominster MA. GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT: the San Luis Valley is a high-desert closed basin with long-standing groundwater sustainability administration and litigation. Rio Grande County CO hyperscale data center prohibition (2026), in the same valley, went further and adopted a resolution prohibiting large-scale or hyperscale facilities. COLORADO CLUSTER: Loveland CO 12-month data center moratorium (2026), Aurora CO resolution directing data center regulations, moratorium rejected (2026) and Aurora CO evaporative cooling ban ordinance, first reading (2026), Adams County CO Data Center Zoning Standards. NOT ESTABLISHED: the exact date, the ordinance number, the operative scope, any threshold defining 'large' battery storage, and whether the water constraint was among the stated reasons — the source does not say.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Alamosa, CO |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Moderate |
| Enacted | September 1, 2026 |
| Citation | Alamosa, Colo. — unanimous one-year moratorium on data centers and large battery storage (2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Not stated in the located source |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | Alamosa places 1-year moratorium on data centers, large battery storage — Alamosa Citizen |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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