Denver, Colorado

Denver: one-year pause on data center zoning permits and site plans

Local construction moratorium · Denver only (local rule)

In effect This instrument is recorded as currently in effect as of the dataset date.

Scope

Denver Council Bill 26-0431 (Series of 2026) authorizes a moratorium, beginning on the ordinance's effective date, on the acceptance, processing, or approval of zoning permits, site development plan applications, and site development plan amendment applications that propose to establish any new data center as a primary use or to expand or otherwise increase the gross floor area of an existing data center use. For the moratorium, a data center is a facility whose primary use is the storage, processing, management and transmission of digital data and/or support for the delivery of cloud computing services, excluding the zoning code's Communication Services and Telecommunication Facilities uses. Applications pending but not approved on the effective date are not treated as inactive during the moratorium.

Geographic scope
Denver, Colorado
Jurisdiction
Local
Authority type
Local government
Issuing authority
Denver City Council

Dates

Adopted
18 May 2026
Effective
21 May 2026
Scheduled expiration
21 May 2027
Ended
Not recorded as ended
Completion condition
Section 5 ends the moratorium at the earlier of one year from the ordinance's effective date or the effective date of Denver Revised Municipal Code and Denver Zoning Code text amendments regarding data centers (whichever of those two occurs later). The ordinance prints no calendar day; the stored 21 May 2027 end day comes from the City Council committee update of 18 August 2026.
Source document
20 May 2026
Last checked
2 October 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)

Summary

Denver City Council passed Council Bill 26-0431 on 18 May 2026 and the Mayor approved it on 20 May 2026. The ordinance authorizes a moratorium on accepting, processing or approving zoning permits and site development plan applications or amendments that would establish a new data center as a primary use or enlarge an existing data center use, while the city drafts data center regulations with a working group. It ends after one year or earlier when data center amendments to the municipal and zoning codes take effect; a council committee update on 18 August 2026 states it runs until 21 May 2027. It is a temporary pause, not a permanent prohibition.

What this does not establish

  • The signed ordinance leaves the ordinance number and the newspaper-publication lines blank and prints no effective date; the stored 21 May 2026 effective day and 21 May 2027 end day come from the City Council committee update of 18 August 2026 (Legistar 26-1192), not from the ordinance text.
  • The moratorium ends sooner if data center amendments to the Denver Revised Municipal Code and Denver Zoning Code take effect before 21 May 2027; Legistar titles checked on 23 September 2026 showed no such amendment, extension or repeal, but code amendments not titled with data centers were not reviewed one by one.
  • It does not address the operation of existing data centers and does not identify any specific project that is affected.

Unresolved questions

  • The ordinance number assigned after publication is not shown on the signed copy or in the Legistar matter record.
  • Whether data center code amendments take effect before 21 May 2027, or an extension is adopted.

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.

  • No related action is recorded.

Sources

Primary source

https://denver.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15494229&GUID=886C2DC6-F50E-47BA-8549-6BE8C094251F

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