Aurora mulls data center limits
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Aurora is poised for a wider debate over data center rules, as Councilmember Amy Wiles explores new regulations and residents question whether the city is ready for AI-fueled growth.
The big picture: Aurora is the latest Colorado city grappling with data centers as communities statewide weigh the infrastructure needed to support cloud services, businesses and artificial intelligence.
Why it matters: Data centers have become a national flashpoint as cities worry about water, power, noise and whether local rules can keep pace with AI's rapid expansion.
- For some residents, the debate extends beyond the facilities themselves, becoming a proxy for broader AI anxieties — from job losses and utility costs to how the technology could reshape everyday life.
That's what brought 20-year-old Paige Dayton to Wiles' listening session last week, where roughly 80 residents and city officials gathered to debate the issue.
- "People my age are out of work, or they're wondering how to break into industries where AI is taking over."
- "If these [data centers] weren't being built, then AI couldn't expand."
In the room: Residents pressed officials on environmental impacts.
Aurora Water general manager Marshall Brown said the city's nine data centers collectively use 0.3% of its supply.
City manager Jason Batchelor said Aurora already limits where data centers can locate, while Brown said the city's standards effectively prohibit facilities that rely heavily on evaporative cooling.
Zoom out: Denver imposed a one-year data center moratorium, while Jefferson County approved a 10-month pause.
Between the lines: Wiles says her fast-growing eastern Aurora district is ripe for data center growth — and residents know it.
- CBRE Data Center Solutions has said Aurora and Colorado Springs draw developer interest because of available land and power.
Wiles tells Axios she's researching "best practices" nationwide — including in Aurora, Illinois — where officials adopted strict rules.
Zoom in: Wiles toured QTS' 65-acre campus in her district last month as she began researching how the facilities operate.
"All of the things that are stored in the cloud — YouTube, TikTok, Facebook … that are out on the internet, they have to be stored in a data center somewhere," she told last week's crowd.
- "I guess I didn't realize that the 'cloud' isn't like a cloud," she added. "It's a data center, and shame on me for not knowing that."
What we're watching: Wiles expects the conversation to move toward possible rule changes by summer's end.