Council Charts Strategic Course as Data Center Power Deal Advances

Pittsburg's City Council spent the bulk of its March 16 meeting debating the city's economic identity — from the future of shuttered industrial sites to whether sports tourism is worth the investment — before unanimously clearing a landmark power deal that could bring a 99-megawatt data center online within two years.

• Council shapes FY 2026-27 strategic plan across five priority areas, with pointed debates over the Posco site's future, commercial corridor oversaturation, and fiscal sustainability

• Pittsburgh Power Company authorizes PG&E interconnection agreement for a 99MW data center, with developer Avayo bearing all capital costs — up to $300 million for a new switchyard

• $60 million in Valero Refinery penalty grants open to Pittsburg nonprofits and agencies through the Bay Area Air District; applications due May 29

• Carpenters union alleges prevailing wage violations on the Dream Courts project and calls for the city to reopen the project labor agreement

• Housing Authority adopts 2026 plan with 1,021 applicants on the Section 8 wait list and 15 new vouchers earmarked for transitional age youth

• $349K Clean California grant approved to hire veterans and at-risk youth for neighborhood cleanup and the city's first Urban Creativity Wall

The council's longest agenda item — a workshop spanning roughly two hours — laid bare the tensions facing a city adding thousands of homes while trying to attract the employers and revenue to match.