Council Unanimously Backs Data Center Moratorium After Marathon Public Hearing

More than 30 Hayward residents, union leaders, educators and advocates packed city council chambers to demand the city pump the brakes — or slam them — on data center development, and every councilmember agreed. The council voted 7-0 to direct staff to return by late October with an urgency moratorium ordinance, keeping a permanent ban on the table.

• Full council directs staff to draft urgency moratorium on data center development by late October

• Hayward Education Association's 1,100-member assembly unanimously calls for a data center ban

• Former top-5 AI company employee reveals he quit over data center buildout, urges city to act

• Petition with roughly 2,300 signatures delivered to council supporting the referral

• Union trades back a pause but push for labor standards and ratepayer protections

• Critics blast $500K City Hall renovation on consent calendar amid layoffs and service cuts

Why it matters: Hayward joins a growing wave of California cities reconsidering data center development as communities raise alarms about water consumption, diesel emissions, noise, electricity demand and the unchecked pace of AI infrastructure. Staff confirmed that developers are already seeking to build facilities in Hayward even larger than the 77-megawatt Stack Infrastructure project that sparked the current uproar.