After more than a week of uproar about the possibility of a data center coming to Modesto, city officials sought to calm temperatures with a statement saying those specific tech facilities aren’t allowed under the municipal code.
The thing is, Modesto already has two data centers downtown – but not all data centers are created equally.
Both existing facilities are tiny compared to what could be built at the Graphics Drive site eyed by a major data center developer. And that property is likewise small compared to many artificial intelligence data centers drawing anger in communities across the United States.
Preparing for anticipated protests at this week’s Aug. 11 Modesto City Council meeting, City Hall officials on Aug. 6 released an “official statement” proclaiming that “data centers are not an allowed land use under the City’s Municipal Code.”
The Modesto Focus noted the two existing data centers downtown and immediately requested clarification. A day later, a city spokesperson said, “We are working on it,” but failed to respond more than two business days after the media request.
The official statement ignores these data centers, both established years ago:
- Lumen Technologies, 1224 10th St., previously CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications, in a 3,400-square-foot building with an audible hum indicating industrial fans to cool equipment, or generators. The hum is not disruptive, said a worker at an accountant’s office next door.
- Ayera Technologies, in the City Towers building housing several other businesses, including Stanislaus County courtrooms, at 801 10th Str. Ayera provides internet services from fifth-floor offices with two rooms of servers on the sixth floor, an employee said.
Both companies promote their facilities as data centers, though they’re not the kind consuming immense amounts of water and power and provoking outcry across the United States.
“Though it’s listed as a data center, Lumen’s facilities are different from the traditional, large data centers,” company spokesperson Stephanie Meisse said in an email from the Bellville, Ohio headquarters.
“Our sites are primarily network and communications facilities, which means they are designed to enable connectivity — linking businesses, cloud platforms, and other data centers — rather than supporting massive, compute-intensive workloads,” she continued.
When talking about data centers, size matters
Both existing data centers downtown are nestled amid other businesses. The proposed site at 1200 Graphics Drive is along Highway 99, north of Kansas Avenue where a former barium plant operated decades ago, in a largely industrial area.
A new data center on about 20 acres at that site theoretically could be 200 times larger than either existing center, said Professor Sarah Kurtz, chair of UC Merced’s electrical engineering department.
And that 20-acre data center could be much smaller than others driving headlines nationwide, which can cover hundreds of acres.
Although some council members confirmed receiving requests to sit down with a senior representative of NorthPoint, the industrial developer controlling the Graphics Drive site, no application has been submitted, City Hall officials say.
NorthPoint’s inquiry indicates the company wants to build a data center of 25 to 50 megawatts – roughly the amount of energy needed to power 25,000 to 50,000 houses.
Leading AI data centers can range higher than 300 megawatts.
Regardless of size, news of NorthPoint’s lobbying has prompted thousands of social media posts, an online petition to stop it and other organized opposition.
The Modesto City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 11 in the basement chamber at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. in downtown Modesto.
City officials cleared the agenda of all other business, except the consent calendar, which normally is rubber-stamped without discussion, and the open-mic portion known as public comment.
Tidal wave of opposition to undefined Valley data center
Modesto City Council members say they’re bowled over by people’s reaction – almost all negative.
“I was kind of shocked,” said Councilman Chris Ricci, who set off the uproar by engaging people in social media.
As of Friday, four of his posts had generated a combined 201,000 views and 2,347 comments – the majority from people who don’t want a data center anywhere near Modesto.
“I thought people would likely oppose it, but I didn’t realize (the backlash) would be as emphatic and passionate as it was,” Ricci told The Modesto Focus.
Councilman Nick Bavaro said, “data centers were not even on the radar, and the next thing I know I’m getting 120 emails a day telling me not to support this.”
Most city leaders, including Councilwoman Rosa Escutia-Braaton, pointed to City Hall’s official notice and said they anticipate no upcoming votes on data centers.
“It’s kind of dead in the water at this point,” said Councilman Eric Alvarez, unless leaders decide to change the Modesto Municipal Code, “and I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
NorthPoint has been quietly pursuing land-use entitlements, including extensions for submitting plans and persuading city planning commissioners to approve a lot split without sharing what it might be for.
It’s the council’s job to entertain any proposal that might help strengthen the local economy, Councilman David Wright said – including newcomers that might help shore up revenue lost when companies close.
They include the former Del Monte cannery that shut earlier this year, costing the area 1,800 jobs, and 117 employees working for Modesto’s two O’Brien’s Market grocery stores closing in late September.
“We need to replace those revenues to have nice parks and a police department and everything we do to help everyone, and to keep rates low,” Wright said. “Is this something that would help the city? We won’t know till we get all the information.”
Data center moratorium in Modesto?
Across the country, and in the Valley, more than 100 local agencies have enacted moratoriums on construction of the tech sites, including the cities of Spokane, Reno and Seattle and counties in Maryland, Florida and Colorado.
Seventeen miles to the southwest of Modesto, Patterson leaders last month pushed pause on data centers with a 45-day moratorium of their own.
If data center developers “get aggressive, I’d probably support a moratorium for a year or more so we can focus on other pressing issues,” Bavaro said.
The overwhelming negative reaction from people seems to spring from environmental concerns, Alvarez said, although particulars facing Modesto are unknown.
“With uncertainty comes fear, hesitation and skepticism,” Alvarez said. “The city has a responsibility to do research on realities, not myths or speculation.”
Meanwhile, several people came forward from the audience to speak against data centers at last week’s meeting of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors.
County leaders have not been approached about data center construction in unincorporated areas, said Board Chairman Vito Chiesa and County CEO Jody Hayes. The most likely spots include the Beard Industrial District on Modesto’s southeast border, and the yet-to-be-developed Crows Landing Industrial Business Park near Patterson.
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@themodestofocus.org.