Data centers came up in 1,017 of the 3,480 public meetings Audioscrape transcribed from May to October 2026, nearly three in ten, in 263 city councils, county boards and commissions across 35 states. In 664 of those meetings it was more than a passing word: the subject came up three times or more. Counties weighed moratoriums, rewrote their zoning definitions and heard appeals against specific projects, and residents filled public comment on both sides. The 19 examples below show the range, and each one links to the moment it was said, so you can hear it in the official recording before you quote it.
These figures are a snapshot as of 7 November 2026 and cover only the bodies Audioscrape transcribes (see the list); the real number of local governments discussing data centers is higher. They will be updated as new meetings come in.
Where it comes up most
- Bodies with the most meetings that mentioned data centers, May to October 2026: Arizona Corporation Commission (42), Linn County Board of Supervisors, IA (21), Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, VA (20), Loudoun County’s committees and advisory boards (19), Prince William County Board of Supervisors, VA (17), Memphis City Council, TN (14), and Charlotte City Council, Fairfax County Planning Commission and Prince George’s County Council (12 each).
- States with the most bodies discussing it: California (41), Texas (34), Virginia (31), Florida (29), North Carolina (10) and Arizona (9).
Pausing approvals
- Durham County Board of Commissioners, NC. At a work session on 3 August the deputy county manager presented a proposed temporary moratorium on data center development, noting that the county’s development ordinance had no definition for data centers. The item went to a public hearing on 24 August.
- Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, VA. In the county at the heart of Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley”, a resident asked the board on 15 September to “pause the approval of data center development until a comprehensive, long-term plan” exists. On 6 October a supervisor proposed a friendly amendment to add the Telos data center site plan (STPL-2023-0007) to an audit, and another explained that under the current ordinance Amazon would have to come to the board for permission to build on a pending site.
Writing data centers into the zoning code
- DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, GA. On 13 October the board took up an ordinance amendment “to establish data center definitions and data center classifications for regulatory oversight”.
- Lake County Board of County Commissioners, FL. Staff walked the board through definitions tied to Florida statute on 13 October, where a large data center means an anticipated monthly peak load of 50 megawatts or more.
- Boston City Council, MA. On 19 October the council heard that the city’s existing definition, which files data centers under telecommunications, needs updating.
- Deltona City Commission, FL. At a joint workshop with the planning board on 28 September the question came up whether the comprehensive plan addresses data centers at all: “that’s the word of the day.”
Briefings and study sessions
- Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners, CO. A 22 September study session set out to “build a shared understanding of data centers” ahead of a site tour, with a follow-up planned for October.
- Scottsdale City Council, AZ. Staff told the council on 20 October that data centers are not a new land use; what is new is “the changes in the scale and intensity”.
- Marion County Board of County Commissioners, FL. A workshop held on 21 September specifically to discuss data centers heard a speaker describe a county expecting $1.3 billion in data center tax revenue next year from 233 data centers.
- Pinal County Board of Supervisors, AZ. A special session on 12 August heard a technical briefing on how AI computing changed data center demand.
Specific projects
- Colorado Springs City Council, CO. A special meeting on 17 September heard the appeal of the Project Taurus planning item, where the applicant described it as an “inference data center”.
- Santa Clara City Council, CA. On 20 October a motion proposed folding requests for standalone data centers into a broader discussion, with water-use and air-quality information staff will bring back.
- Fort Worth City Council, TX. A motion on 11 August noted that the proposed data center had applied for all necessary permits.
- Fairfax County Planning Commission, VA. On 6 May the commission heard how a new substation would carry data center load alongside the rest of its service area.
- Arizona Corporation Commission. Public comment in the Arizona Public Service rate case on 18 May included a call to stop further data center construction in the state.
Public comment, both ways
- Charlotte City Council, NC, 26 May: the chamber chanting “No data centers!”.
- Austin City Council, TX, 23 July: “No standalone data centers is not the same thing as no data centers.”
- Dallas City Council, TX, 5 August: a resident objecting to the conversion of Dallas Market Center, citing the grid, water use and jobs.
- San Antonio City Council, TX, 29 October: supporters pointing to “the many data center construction workers in this room today” and backing the zoning commission’s proposed guidelines.
What the arguments are about
Across these meetings the same five issues recur: electricity (substations, generators and who pays for the grid), water for cooling, noise and diesel exhaust near homes, the tax revenue a data center brings, and zoning codes written before hyperscale campuses existed. The split is rarely for or against data centers as such; it is about where they go and on what terms.
How to follow it yourself
- Search. Type
"data center"(or the name of a project, an applicant or a parcel) into Audioscrape search and narrow to meetings. Each hit has the body, the date, the speaker where the transcript names one, and a link to the moment. - Get an alert. Click “Alert me on new results” on that search and you get an email when a newly transcribed meeting matches. No account is needed for an email alert; see Alerts.
- Ask an assistant. With Audioscrape installed in ChatGPT or Claude, ask “What have county boards in Virginia said about data centers this month?” and the answer comes back with the meetings and the timestamps.
Method and caveats
- The counts cover every public government meeting dated 1 May to 31 October 2026 in Audioscrape’s record (duplicates of the same recording counted once): a meeting counts when its transcript contains “data center”, “data centers” or “data centre” as whole words. That catches passing mentions too, which is why the 664 meetings where it came up three or more times are given separately. A random sample of matching passages was read by a person; nearly all were about data centers as a local issue (zoning, power, water, noise, jobs).
- The 19 examples were picked by a person from a search of the same meetings to show the range of what was said. Bodies Audioscrape does not transcribe are not counted at all.
- Transcripts are machine-made. Speaker names, where shown, are machine labels and can be wrong; this page names roles, not people, unless the speaker named themselves. Check the official recording before you quote.
- Outcomes (whether a moratorium passed, how an appeal ended) are not stated here unless the linked moment says so. Each body’s own minutes are the record of its decisions.
Related: How do I get searchable city council meeting transcripts with speaker names? · Government meetings on Audioscrape