The Direct Message
Tension: Fort Worth residents want a pause on data center development now, but the city’s current timetable leaves months in which protected projects and previously filed zoning applications can remain outside the proposed moratorium.
Noise: The unanimous vote can sound like an immediate moratorium. It was only the first legal step toward one, with a possible effective date of Feb. 16, 2027.
Direct Message: The council started the process for a 90-day pause and separately imposed a grid-approval documentation requirement, but it has not yet stopped Fort Worth from receiving or processing new data center applications.
Every DMNews article follows The Direct Message methodology.
Fort Worth’s City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 11, 2026, to begin the legal process for a proposed 90-day moratorium on new data center development. KERA reported that the vote was the first move toward a moratorium, not the final adoption of one.
Under the city’s current timeline, the moratorium could take effect on Feb. 16, 2027. The year matters: the council initiated the process in August 2026, with hearings and ordinance readings scheduled across late 2026 and early 2027.
Two companion measures also passed on Aug. 11. The council created an 11-member Data Center & Infrastructure Commission and adopted an ordinance requiring new data center applicants to provide documentation of all necessary approvals from the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
What the council actually approved
The council considered three separate measures, and they operate on different timelines.
The first measure initiated the statutory process for a moratorium. It did not immediately stop Fort Worth from accepting, processing, or approving data center applications. Under Section 212.134 of the Texas Local Government Code, the city must hold two public hearings at least 30 days apart. No later than 12 days after the second hearing, the council must begin its final determination through two ordinance readings held at least 28 days apart. Final adoption requires support from at least three-fourths of the full council.
The second measure created the Data Center & Infrastructure Commission. Michael Slattery was appointed chairman. Slattery is a professor at Texas Christian University and director of its Institute for Environmental Studies. The commission is expected to study electricity demand, water and other local resources, neighborhood effects, and the fiscal consequences of data center development before presenting recommendations on Nov. 3.
The third measure took effect following its adoption. New applications for predevelopment conferences, plats, replats, building permits, and other municipal permits needed for a data center must include documentation showing that the project has all necessary PUCT and ERCOT permits and approvals. NBC 5 reported that the requirement applies at several stages of the city’s development process.
The local ordinance follows Gov. Greg Abbott’s Aug. 3 directive ordering PUCT and ERCOT to verify and audit data centers moving through ERCOT’s interconnection process. The governor’s office said the audit must be completed before affected projects move forward.
The commission and application-requirement measures each passed 10-1. District 7 council member Macy Hill opposed the commission measure, while District 10 council member Chris Jamieson opposed the application ordinance, according to Community Impact’s vote tally. The resolution initiating the moratorium process passed without dissent.
Why the proposed pause does not begin immediately
Texas law requires more than a council’s desire for additional study before a commercial-development moratorium can take effect. The city must issue written findings showing that existing regulations and other applicable laws are inadequate to prevent the covered development from harming public health, safety, or welfare. Section 212.1352 also requires the city to identify the affected geography, the covered type of commercial property, and the objectives of the moratorium.
Fort Worth staff said the review will examine noise, water supply, long-term water availability, land-use compatibility, building scale, and mechanical infrastructure. The current schedule calls for commission recommendations on Nov. 3, a first public hearing on Nov. 10, a second hearing on Jan. 5, 2027, a first ordinance reading on Jan. 12, and a second reading and possible adoption on Feb. 16.
If adopted, the initial moratorium would last 90 days. Texas law caps the total duration at 180 days and requires another hearing and written findings for an extension. The statute also prevents the city from adopting another moratorium within two years when it addresses the same harm, property type, or geographical area.
There is another important limitation. The moratorium cannot affect a project already in progress under Chapter 245 or prohibit or delay a zoning application filed before the moratorium’s effective date.
That protection is narrower than saying every piece of paperwork filed before February automatically creates vested rights. The relevant questions are whether a project already qualifies as a project in progress under Chapter 245 and whether a zoning application was filed before the effective date.
Some residents warned that the months before the proposed moratorium could still give developers time to advance applications. Kent DeCardenas criticized the city’s earlier approach and pointed to the Fort Worth Zoning Commission’s July 8 vote, 7-4, against the staff-drafted data center zoning rules.
What the moratorium would and would not cover
The proposed pause would apply to covered data center development within the geographical boundaries adopted by the city. Fort Worth does not have the same development authority over projects in its extraterritorial jurisdiction or over facilities outside city limits that may still rely on Fort Worth’s municipal water system.
The staff-drafted zoning proposal rejected in July would have limited data centers to industrial districts and prohibited cryptocurrency mining under the proposed data center rules. Those measures were removed from the Aug. 11 agenda after five council members called for a moratorium and an advisory commission.
Southwest Fort Worth resident Gary Hogan has opposed a proposed Edged Data Centers facility near Benbrook and criticized the setback distances in the rejected proposal. Sue Weston, an owner of Weston Gardens, reminded council members of commitments made after nearby land was rezoned for a Black Mountain data center project.
Where this fits in the wider data center debate
Fort Worth is not acting alone. Five Dallas City Council members have requested a hearing and vote on possible development-code changes for data centers.
State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, who spoke at the Fort Worth meeting, said a municipal moratorium could send state lawmakers a message about transparency, energy and water use, and who pays for new infrastructure serving data centers.
Other states and cities are choosing different responses. WOSU reported that Ohio’s data center sales-tax exemption cost nearly $1.6 billion in 2025, compared with an original estimate of $136 million. In California, more than 86 percent of preliminary votes supported Monterey Park’s permanent data center ban.
Fort Worth’s proposed approach falls between a permanent ban and unrestricted development. It combines an application-documentation rule already in force with an advisory review and a possible temporary moratorium that remains subject to hearings, findings, and another council vote.
What Fort Worth residents should watch
The first major date is Nov. 3, when the Data Center & Infrastructure Commission is expected to deliver its recommendations. The proposed hearings would follow on Nov. 10 and Jan. 5, with ordinance readings scheduled for Jan. 12 and Feb. 16, 2027.
Residents should also watch which zoning applications arrive before the moratorium takes effect and which projects claim protection as projects already in progress under Chapter 245. Those legal categories, not the filing of just any document, determine whether a project remains outside the pause.
Council member Elizabeth Beck told attendees before the vote that the city was not their enemy in the dispute. The coming hearings, the commission’s recommendations, and the handling of applications during the intervening months will test that assurance.
The practical reading is straightforward. Fort Worth has agreed to study stronger data center rules, require documentation of state grid approvals, and pursue a temporary pause. It has not enacted that pause yet. Under the current timeline, the final decision would not arrive until Feb. 16, 2027.
