A group of city councillors and Calgary’s mayor are seeking a pause on new data centre projects to allow the city to develop regulations and do a deep dive on the potential impacts to municipal infrastructure.

A motion on the matter from Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness, co-signed by Couns. Raj Dhaliwal, Andrew Yule, John Pantazopoulos and Mayor Jeromy Farkas, is set to undergo a technical review at the city’s executive committee next week.

The motion aims to place a temporary moratorium on any new rezoning applications related to large-scale data centres, pending the outcome of a city study into the impacts on municipal infrastructure and the creation of new land-use regulations.

According to the motion, data centres are not specifically defined in the city’s zoning rules and any proposals “must be evaluated and approved in accordance with the current applicable requirements” of the city’s land-use bylaw.

It asks city administration to create a new zoning district that defines data centres, and takes into consideration the varying scales of data centre proposals by March.

“We feel we need to put proper processes in place. We need to put proper guardrails in place, but we need to start with a proper land-use district in our land-use bylaw,” Dhaliwal told Global News.

The move comes months after Rocky View County put a temporary freeze on data centre projects to establish regulations for future proposed projects.

The motion noted other municipalities like Oakville, Ont., Mississauga, Ont., Cumberland, N.S. and Saskatoon, Sask. have done the same.

According to the motion, the term “data centre” encompasses a broad scale of technology infrastructure.

“Small and medium-scale data centres have energy, water and land needs comparable to other commercial and industrial businesses and are an important part of our business ecosystem in Calgary,” the motion reads. “Hyperscale or mega-scale data centers for AI and cloud computing are massive, resource-intensive campuses that have significant impacts to the community and the region.”

If city council approves the motion, city administration would also be directed to study “the risks, implications and opportunities of data centres,” including environmental and economic impacts as well as potential effects on regional water servicing and municipal water infrastructure.

“That’s a challenge that council will need to get ahead of and a pause will allow us to do the research and create an equitable playing ground,” Wyness told Global News.

It remains unclear what a temporary pause could mean for a data centre proposal underway in the city’s northeast.

A rezoning application has been submitted to city administration by Stantec and property management company Walton Global for a large undeveloped parcel of land east of 52 Street NE and north of the community of Redstone.

The application is currently under review, and would allow for large industrial buildings and power generation to make way for a data centre, as well as natural areas and stormwater retention ponds.

Dhaliwal, who represents Ward 5 where the data centre is proposed, said he’s been fielding questions from residents about the project.

“They’re asking for what kind of environmental assessments will be done, what kind of technical studies will be done from noise and heat generation,” he said. “We don’t have those answers and I want to provide those answers to them.”

Walton Global did not respond to Global News’ request for comment in time for publication.