A coalition of community groups across predominantly Latino and Asian suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley is working to block a series of proposed data centers, citing concerns about air quality, noise pollution, and rising utility bills. Monterey Park, a city of about 57,000 people, led the resistance after Australian-owned investment firm StratCap dropped plans for a 247,000-square-foot data center; in June, 86 percent of Monterey Park residents approved Measure NDC, making it the first city in the nation to pass a voter-approved ban on data centers. Temporary moratoriums have also been adopted in El Monte, Montebello, and Baldwin Park, with a citywide ban on the November ballot in Alhambra. However, the City of Industry, a 12-mile-long municipality bordering a dozen communities but home to just over 200 residents, presents a major obstacle because its officials face little accountability to surrounding residents who could be affected by its data center approvals.
Monterey Park's voter-approved ban is the first of its kind in the nation, setting a potential model for other communities seeking to use direct democracy to block data center development. The City of Industry situation exposes a structural gap in local governance: a municipality with minimal resident population can approve large industrial projects that affect hundreds of thousands of people in neighboring communities with little recourse for those residents.
A 12-mile-long complication in San Gabriel Valley residents' campaign against data centers signals a notable new development in California community opposition, with a specific geographic detail suggesting infrastructure or zoning barriers that make this distinct from prior opposition stories published.