City Council Work Session
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What is the purpose and agenda of the Austin City Council work session?
You're watching a meeting of the Austin City Council. With mayor Kirk Watson. Mayor Pro Tim Cheeto Vela. Council members Natasha Harper Madison. Vanessa Fuentes Jose Velásquez Ryan Alter. Crystal Name. Mike Siegel. Paige Ellis Zoe Codrick. Mark Duchin. City Attorney Deborah Thomas, City Clerk Erica Brady, and City Manager T. C. Broadnacks.
Good morning everybody. It's nine o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, August twenty fifth. twenty twenty six and I will call to order this city council work session. We have a quorum of the city council present and we are meeting in the city council chambers located in city hall at three oh one west second street in Austin, Texas. Uh we have two items that are on the agenda. Uh uh briefings both in both instances and what we'll do members is I think just go in the order of the the two that we have uh with regard to to those that what the agenda's just set out. Um unless there's any questions or comments, uh I'll recognize the city manager and then we'll go to uh the briefing.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh the first briefing uh today is related to data centers uh and on may fifteenth two tausent twenty six Mayor Watson, you asked staff through the message board to provide recommendations on managing large load data centers in Austin. On august nineteenth, the city staff distributed a memorandum. Regarding staff's recommendations as a response to the message board post. Today Joy Harden Uh interim assistant director with Austin Planning, Stuart Riley, General Manager with Austin Energy, and Shay Rolson, Director of Austin Water, will give a presentation regarding those recommendations in an anticipation of item sixty one. On August twenty seventh, city council agenda. I'll now turn it over to Miss Hardin.
uh to begin uh the presentation.
Okay, thank you, manager. Oh, we do need to do that. Uh before Ms. Harden speaks, let's call the speakers. We have a few speakers that are signed up to speak. Thank you for reminding me.
Mayor, we have uh for item B one, Trey Salinas. Stacey Schmidt. Craig Nazer. Филип Фіцджеролд Doctor Gabriela Cronus. Please make your way to the front, state your name for the record.
Mr. Salinas.
You have the floor.
Good morning, uh Mayor, City Council and City Manager. I'm Trey Salinas here on behalf of C Care, which is the Coalition for Clean, Affordable and Reliable Energy. Uh, we're a coalition of small, medium, large and commercial industrial customers for Austin Energy and Austin Water. Wanna thank you for your time this morning and we want to thank the mayor for his leadership on this issue. Wanna let you know that we agree there needs to be regulation that provides clarity. and certainty around land use definitions. We want to remain a high tech city, but we need to do it in a way that respects our resources and allows for community input. We encourage regulations that allow for more normal, smaller type, responsibly built data centers like the ones we've had inside the city of Austin for the last ten to twenty years now.
These are the smaller centers that our local technology providers and city departments depend on. C Care is here as a resource to the city council as you work through these rule changes. Uh today, tomorrow and Thursday. If you are interested in seeing what we are seeing with regards to data centers inside your city, And what we're seeing right outside the city limit lines, we're here to share that with you. Again, we are here as a resource and applaud your efforts today. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Schmidt.
Good morning, Mayor and Council Stacy Schmidt and I am with Opportunity Austin. I As Trey said, I commend you all for having this uh discussion today and the importance that it is to our city. Data centers are nuanced and very complex issues that communities across the state and country are working through in real time. Not every project is rife for every community. It's not simply whether to support or oppose data centers broadly, it's whether that project makes sense for that community based on its locations, its resource needs, its benefits, and its commitments to the people in that community.
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Agenda
8 items
1
What is the purpose and agenda of the Austin City Council work session?
0:07–7:55
2
How are data centers impacting Austin and what recommendations were presented?
7:55–13:22
3
What concerns did the public raise about large and hyperscale data centers?
13:22–25:26
4
How is the council planning to regulate data center development and protect resources?
25:26–40:47
5
What is the city’s new human‑rights framework and why is it important?
40:47–52:06
6
What key mitigations were proposed to address identified human‑rights risks?
52:06–1:11:44
7
What next steps and actions did council members outline for implementation?
1:11:44–1:37:22
8
When does the council officially adjourn the work session?
1:37:22–1:39:29
Speakers
4 identifiedOfficials recognised by voice; public commenters shown as “Speaker N” unless they state their name.