Scope
Mendocino County Ordinance No. 4562, an urgency ordinance under Government Code Section 65858, extends by twenty-two months and fifteen days the temporary moratorium that Ordinance No. 4561 imposed on 1 September 2026; during its term the County shall not approve, and no County official or body shall accept as complete, process, approve or issue, any subdivision, use permit, variance, building, site development or grading permit or other entitlement for the establishment, construction, conversion, expansion or intensification of any Data Center Use or similar high-intensity computing uses. Section 4 defines Data Center Use as any facility, campus, building, structure or portion thereof, "provided such facility has an electrical load of three (3) megawatts or less," used primarily or substantially for housing or operating computer servers and related equipment for data processing, storage, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain or cryptocurrency mining or similar high-intensity computing; it excludes public safety, medical or health care, emergency communications and emergency operations facilities, and essential telecommunications carrier and public utility facilities not principally used as a commercial data center. The ordinance applies to all property in the unincorporated county, with exemptions for fully approved projects, publicly owned public safety and emergency facilities, essential telecommunications and utility facilities, and minor repairs that add no capacity.
- Geographic scope
- Unincorporated Mendocino County, California
- Jurisdiction
- Local
- Authority type
- Local government
- Issuing authority
- Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
Dates
- Adopted
- 6 October 2026
- Effective
- 6 October 2026
- Scheduled expiration
- 21 August 2028
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- Section 9 keeps the ordinance in effect for twenty-two months and fifteen days from adoption to 21 August 2028, the date printed in the ordinance.
- Source document
- 6 October 2026
- Last checked
- 1 November 2026
Summary
On 6 October 2026 the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors adopted Ordinance No. 4562, an urgency ordinance extending by twenty-two months and fifteen days the temporary data center moratorium imposed by Ordinance No. 4561 on 1 September 2026. The extension took effect on adoption and states that it remains in effect to 21 August 2028. While it is in effect the County does not accept, process or approve permits and entitlements for new, converted or expanded data center uses in the unincorporated county, subject to listed exemptions; its definition of Data Center Use includes the words "provided such facility has an electrical load of three (3) megawatts or less." It is a temporary pause on approvals and does not order existing facilities to close.
What this does not establish
- This record does not interpret the three-megawatt qualifier in the Section 4 definition, which does not appear in Ordinance No. 4561, or how it interacts with the separate reference in Section 3 to "similar high-intensity computing uses."
- The roll call block does not align names with the ayes, noes and absent columns, so the vote count is not stated here.
- The ordinance applies only in unincorporated Mendocino County.
Unresolved questions
- How the County applies the three-megawatt qualifier in the Section 4 definition of Data Center Use, and how it interacts with the Section 3 reference to "similar high-intensity computing uses."
- Whether the Board ends the moratorium before 21 August 2028 after adopting regulations.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- Related, not a replacement Mendocino County (unincorporated): data center moratorium imposed 1 September 2026 (Ordinance No. 4561) (In effect)
Sources
Primary source: Mendocino County Board of Supervisors page on mendocinocounty.gov
- Mendocino County Code page, Pending and Recently Adopted Ordinances — Lists Ordinance 4562 as adopted 6 October 2026