The Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted on August 19 to approve a 45-day moratorium on data center development in all unincorporated areas of the county, citing an immediate threat to public health, safety, and welfare in a region that lacks existing zoning or regulatory frameworks for the rapidly expanding industry. The emergency ordinance, which passed with only one dissenting vote, makes Tulare County the latest California jurisdiction to pause data center approvals as communities across the state and nation confront the resource demands that AI infrastructure places on local power grids, water supplies, and neighborhoods.
Key Takeaways
- The Tulare County Board of Supervisors approved a 45-day urgency moratorium on data center development in unincorporated areas, with the option to extend the pause for up to 10 months and 15 days.
- The moratorium was triggered by community opposition to a proposed Global Stack “Edge Computing Center” at the Tulare County Fairgrounds, a project that drew packed public meetings and organized protests from residents and advocacy groups.
- County staff acknowledged that Tulare County has no existing zoning classifications or land use regulations governing data center development, leaving no framework to evaluate proposals that require significant electrical capacity and water resources.
- The city of Visalia is separately considering its own moratorium, while the city of Hanford formally opposed data center development without local review; the city of Tulare voted 4-1 not to take up the issue.
- Nationally, more than 225 moratoriums have been documented across 30 states, with New York enacting the first statewide pause in July 2026 for facilities above 50 megawatts.
A Fairgrounds Proposal Became a Flashpoint
The moratorium traces directly to a proposal by Global Stack, a company that has courted at least a dozen fairgrounds across California since 2025, to develop what it describes as an “emergency-resilience facility” with edge computing capabilities at the Tulare County Fairgrounds at 620 South K Street in the city of Tulare. Fair CEO Dena Rizzardo has emphasized that the project remains in a “fact-finding and feasibility phase” with no formal proposal finalized, describing the concept as involving edge technology components and potentially including a helicopter pad and parking structure.
Community response has been sharp and organized. At a packed Tulare County Fair Board meeting on August 19, residents rallied outside the building before marching in with signs and chanting. Public comment was limited to two minutes per speaker, reduced from the usual five, but attendees used the time to press concerns about water consumption, energy demand, noise pollution, and the long-term implications of leasing public fairground property to a private technology company. The Fair Board had tabled the proposal in July after similar opposition at its previous meeting.
The opposition has drawn support from established advocacy organizations. The Dolores Huerta Foundation, Loud for Tomorrow, and Power California organized a community event at the fairgrounds on August 18, the day before the Board of Supervisors vote, with speakers addressing environmental justice concerns in a region where poverty rates run at roughly double the state average. For residents who already contend with agricultural pollution, water scarcity, and limited public infrastructure, the prospect of a facility that would consume significant electricity and water resources represented an additional extraction from a community that has seen little return from previous industrial development.
The County Lacks Regulatory Infrastructure for an Emerging Industry
The urgency designation attached to the moratorium reflects a regulatory gap that extends beyond the specific Global Stack proposal. County staff stated in their report to the Board of Supervisors that Tulare County’s general plan and zoning ordinances contain no classifications for data center development, no land use regulations governing the industry, and no established framework for evaluating the resource demands these facilities impose.
Aaron Bock, assistant director of economic development and planning for the county’s Resource Management Agency, described the moratorium as an effort to “get way out ahead of this issue,” noting that data center requirements for electrical capacity and water usage far exceed those of any typical development the county regulates. The 45-day window is designed to give county staff time to draft proposed permanent zoning regulations for data center development, which the Board of Supervisors would then consider through the standard legislative process.
The moratorium can be extended for up to 10 months and 15 days beyond the initial 45-day period if the county determines that additional time is needed to complete its regulatory framework. That extension mechanism provides a pathway to a pause lasting more than a year if the complexity of drafting data center regulations, which must address electrical infrastructure, water rights, noise standards, environmental review, and community impact, requires it.
The Central Valley Is Splitting on How to Respond
Tulare County’s moratorium is not occurring in isolation. The broader Central Valley region is fracturing along jurisdictional lines over how to handle data center proposals, with different cities and counties within the same region taking opposite approaches.
The city of Visalia, the largest city in Tulare County, is separately considering its own data center moratorium. City Council member Brian Poochigian requested a discussion item for the August 17 council meeting. The city of Hanford, in neighboring Kings County, posted a public statement formally opposing any data center development without local review and community protections, then reinforced that position at a subsequent council meeting. Kings County’s fairgrounds had also been approached by Global Stack but had not yet placed a lease on its agenda when more than 30 community members attended a July meeting to voice opposition.
The city of Tulare, however, took a different path. Council Member Jose Sigala brought a motion to discuss the Global Stack project at the August 18 meeting, but the motion failed on a 4-1 vote. The city has chosen, at least for now, not to engage with the issue, leaving the county-level moratorium as the primary regulatory response within its jurisdiction.
Other California jurisdictions have already acted. Patterson, in Stanislaus County, recently declared its own 45-day moratorium. Imperial County went further: after approving a 950,000-square-foot AI data center in April, the Board of Supervisors reversed course following public outcry and declared a moratorium of its own. The Sonoma County Fairgrounds declined to move forward with a Global Stack proposal after its CEO assessed the public sentiment and concluded the project was not viable.
California’s Approach Differs From the National Pattern
Nationally, data center restrictions have accelerated into one of the fastest-growing regulatory trends in the technology infrastructure sector. More than 225 moratoriums have been documented across 30 states as of mid-2026, with more than 533 total regulatory instruments, including permanent ordinances, temporary moratoriums, and outright bans, recorded across 42 states. New York became the first state to enact a statewide moratorium in July 2026, pausing environmental permits for facilities above 50 megawatts for up to one year.
California has not followed New York’s statewide approach. Governor Newsom has not enacted a moratorium or signed legislation restricting data center construction at the state level. Instead, the administration has focused on regulating AI applications rather than the physical infrastructure that supports them. Newsom signed an AI workforce executive order in May 2026 directing state agencies to prepare for potential job disruption from AI adoption. In August, the Governor’s Office launched an AI cyber defense program to protect state infrastructure from AI-powered cyberattacks. The California Legislature is racing to pass a slate of privacy and technology bills before its late-August adjournment, including measures targeting data broker oversight and AI regulation.
The result is a two-track California strategy: the state regulates how AI is used and how data is handled, while individual counties and cities decide whether and where the physical facilities powering that AI can be built. For communities like Tulare County, where the state offers no prescriptive guidance on data center siting, the moratorium is the available tool to create breathing room for local decision-making.
Water and Energy Concerns Carry Particular Weight in the Valley
The Central Valley context adds a dimension to the data center debate that does not apply equally in every part of the country. The region’s water supply has been strained for decades by competing demands from agriculture, residential growth, and environmental flows. Data centers, particularly larger facilities, consume significant water for cooling systems. In a region where groundwater overdraft has been a documented problem and where the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requires local agencies to bring basins into balance by 2040 or 2042, any new industrial water demand triggers immediate scrutiny.
Electrical capacity presents a parallel concern. The Central Valley’s grid infrastructure was built to serve agricultural and residential loads, not the concentrated power demands of computing facilities. A single data center can draw as much electricity as a small city, and the transmission infrastructure needed to deliver that power does not currently exist in most Valley locations. Building it would require investment that could either be passed to ratepayers or borne by the developer, a question that the moratorium period is designed to help the county answer through its regulatory process.
The poverty dimension further complicates the equation. Data center proponents typically argue that the facilities generate tax revenue, construction jobs, and a small number of permanent technical positions. Opponents in the Central Valley counter that the jobs are few relative to the resource consumption, that tax incentives often offset the revenue benefits, and that the environmental costs of water and energy use fall disproportionately on low-income communities that have the least capacity to absorb them.
What Happens After 45 Days
The moratorium’s practical impact depends on what the county produces during the pause. If Tulare County uses the 45-day window to draft zoning regulations that establish clear standards for data center siting, environmental review, water and energy consumption, noise limits, and community benefit requirements, the moratorium will have served its intended purpose as a regulatory bridge. If the county extends the pause without producing a regulatory framework, the moratorium risks becoming a delay mechanism that does not resolve the underlying policy question.
The Global Stack proposal at the Tulare County Fairgrounds remains in its feasibility phase. The Fair Board has not approved a formal project, and the company’s plans for the site remain undefined in public documents. Whether Global Stack or any other developer returns with a proposal after the moratorium expires will depend on the regulations the county puts in place and whether those regulations create a viable pathway for data center development or effectively preclude it.
For the broader Central Valley, Tulare County’s moratorium joins a growing patchwork of local responses to an industry that is expanding faster than the regulatory infrastructure designed to govern it. Each jurisdiction is making its own calculation about the balance between economic opportunity and community impact, and each answer contributes to a statewide map that Governor Newsom has so far chosen not to draw from Sacramento.
FAQs
What did the Tulare County moratorium do?
The Board of Supervisors approved a 45-day urgency moratorium on August 19 that suspends the acceptance, processing, approval, or issuance of permits and entitlements for new data center development within unincorporated areas of Tulare County. The pause can be extended for up to 10 months and 15 days. County staff will use the period to draft permanent zoning regulations for data center development.
What is the Global Stack proposal that triggered the moratorium?
Global Stack proposed an “Edge Computing Center” described as an emergency-resilience facility at the Tulare County Fairgrounds. The project remains in a fact-finding phase with no formal proposal finalized. Community opposition to the project, fueled by concerns about water use, energy demand, noise, and the lease of public fairground property, drove the Board of Supervisors to adopt the countywide moratorium.
Has California enacted a statewide data center moratorium?
No. Governor Newsom has not enacted a statewide moratorium or signed legislation restricting data center construction. California’s approach has focused on regulating AI applications, data privacy, and workforce impacts rather than restricting physical infrastructure. Individual counties and cities, including Tulare County, Patterson, and Imperial County, have enacted their own local moratoriums.
How many data center moratoriums exist nationwide?
As of mid-2026, more than 225 moratoriums have been documented across 30 states, with more than 533 total regulatory instruments recorded across 42 states. New York became the first state to enact a statewide moratorium in July 2026, pausing environmental permits for data center facilities above 50 megawatts for up to one year.
