At its meeting Monday, the Edmond City Council enacted a moratorium through the end of the year that temporarily prohibits data center development within city limits pending the formation of formal policy.
Ward 2 Councilman Barry Moore, who sparked the conversation about data centers in Edmond last month when council members approved a water rate increase, reiterated his opposition Monday.
“I worry about these things,” Moore said. “I’ve seen what it’s done in other communities. It’s torn them apart, it’s divided them — anger — and I don’t want that happening in Edmond.”
Ward 1 Councilwoman Maggie Murdock Nichols, who co-authored the moratorium agenda item, emphasized the need for a definitive plan.
“I don’t have any interest in entertaining a data center,” Murdock Nichols said. “We need to look at our process and make sure that our citizens are protected. So I’m glad that many of you have come out tonight. I’m glad to see active, engaged citizens. That’s what we want. You’re welcome anytime.”
Ward 4 Councilman Phil Fraim maintained his preference for a more nuanced approach discussed in May.
“It’s funny to me, the disconnect. We all love to go to Chat GPT, Google, even facial recognition to open apps on our phone. That’s called AI,” Fraim said. “It all goes through a data center. It doesn’t have to be here, and so we need to look at the significant risk that exists within those data centers and compare those to any kind of potential opportunity. We can be very intentional with that.”
Fraim reiterated that Edmond would not have to accept a hyper-scale data center, but that smaller ones utilizing greener sources of energy could be an option.
Mayor Mark Nash said he “100 percent backs up” what Fraim said.
“We have to understand what we want and what we don’t want,” Nash said. “If we have a business that comes to us and wants to move to our city, and we outlaw everything, we’re going to lose out. Not only will we lose out of that opportunity to have another business located here, but that means we’ll start losing businesses. We’ll start shedding the ones we have. They’ll move elsewhere, and eventually, people will move out.”
Council members then heard from residents who came to discuss the issue.
Resident Jeff Stokes began his comments by noting he would probably be speaking against the other residents as he is “kind of for them.”
“We’re running into budget problems. This is a way for us to have some type of tax revenue. I know that water usage is the biggest scary factor,” Stokes said. “We are in an oil and gas state. We dispose of a lot of salt water. I used to be in the oil and gas sector. We can clean that up better than water that comes out of our taps, so we could easily utilize those types of resources.”
Stokes also proposed requiring data centers to give the city extra power to cut costs.
Wendi Dial, a resident who holds a geology degree, shared her concerns about forever chemicals.
“Once [PFAS] get into your water supply, you cannot get them out. Data centers come standard with PFAS, just so that we know that there would be potentially an environmental impact there. And I would hope that the city planners would address that concern,” Dial said.
Resident David Hennessey referenced Michigan residents suing a data center over excessive noise.
“[Dowagiac, Michigan, residents are] all experiencing negative biological results due to these exposures to the infra-sound noise. It is not the noise you hear, but the body feels this vibration,” Hennessey said. “Our clean, safe drinking water is our most precious resource. We have the city of Edmond and the surrounding areas need to get a petition and let the voters vote on stopping these data centers.”
Ken Bryan, Edmond’s director of planning, explained the research staff will do during the time of the moratorium. At minimum, city staff are being directed to identify:
- The various types of data centers;
- Potential appropriate zoning districts for each; and
- Lessons learned from other jurisdictions and industry experts.
Within two months, staff members are expected to update the council on the status request and receive feedback. At the three-month mark, city staff are expected to present a draft of recommendations. Within five months, “applicable items” for council consideration are to be presented.
The moratorium is set to expire Dec. 31 unless the council moves to extend it.
‘No furniture to even entertain congressmen’: Nash challenged on office purchase
Council members officially adopted their FY 26-27 budget Monday after an exodus of spectators, who Murdock Nichols wished had stayed to see local government and transparency in action.
Later in the evening, Murdock Nichols put Nash in the hot seat by requesting to pull an item from general consent. The item involved his request to spend no more than $1,600 at Mathis Home on new furniture for his office.
Murdock Nichols encouraged the use of “furniture purchased with the contract of the new city hall” for a “consistent feel throughout” the building.
“Just trying to be wise with our dollars, especially considering from mayor to mayor, taste could change,” Murdock Nichols. “If we can’t find something that’s not being used or order something from the lookbook that we put money on for an interior designer, then I might even suggest looking for a local business to support so our tax dollars are being spent here.”
Nash replied with his reasoning for the request.
“When the building was designed, the mayor’s office looked like every other office in the building with IKEA-style furniture. And yet the mayor’s office is supposed to be the place where we entertain visitors, VIPs, and it didn’t have that,” Nash said. “It literally had a desk just like every other desk in this building. It had a wall of cabinets and bookshelves with no place, no furniture to even entertain congressmen, state legislators, other mayors, anybody else that’s a special guest of our city.”
Nash said he is currently utilizing a desk donated by a former mayor.
“We did look, to be quite honest, at some local places within our boundaries, and to be quite honest, their pricing was three times as high as this,” Nash said. “If there’s anybody here tonight who would like to see our lovely Amazon chairs that we have in the mayor’s office right now that cost us $100 a piece, I bought them, I’ll show them to you. Not what I would say we should be using in a mayor’s office.”
Nash said he waited until this point in the fiscal year to ensure there was room in the budget for the purchase.
Murdock Nichols agreed with Nash’s use of the donated desk, though she did not concede that the furniture looked like it was from IKEA.
“I don’t feel comfortable spending our money in this way. I don’t think we would allow an employee to pick their own furniture,” Murdock Nichols said. “I understand why an office looks nice for dignitaries, and I don’t know, I think it’s more about the experience of our city, but that’s just my opinion.”
Ultimately, Murdock Nichols cast the lone “No” vote on that item.
