AURORA — The Aurora City Council voted unanimously Monday night to prohibit large-scale evaporative cooling systems in future industrial, commercial and multifamily construction, a measure aimed squarely at the wave of data center projects proposed across the city.
The 10-0 vote makes Aurora one of the first Colorado cities to restrict the cooling technology outright. City water officials told lawmakers that evaporative systems can draw millions of gallons per day at large facilities — a demand the city says it cannot afford while drought conditions strain the state's supply.
The cooling ban is the first of several data center regulations the council expects to weigh this fall. Members have directed the city manager to return with proposals on zoning, noise rules, physical screening and mandatory setbacks between new facilities and residential neighborhoods. A separate zoning change advanced in August would allow data centers in medium-industrial and business-tech zones, but not in mixed-use office or institutional districts.
Five data centers currently operate in Aurora. The new restrictions apply only to projects that have not yet been approved, including the QTS campus planned near I-70 and E-470 — billed as one of the largest data center developments in Colorado — and the proposed Trident at Windler project in northeast Aurora, where residents packed Monday's meeting to demand residential buffers.
