The council states that the delay will allow the town to examine noise, emissions, infrastructure, and land-use effects of these energy-heavy facilities.
Oakville’s council has placed a one-year hold on data centre developments, providing time for town staff to evaluate policies regarding the possible impacts of these contentious facilities.
This interim control bylaw, officially sanctioned at a special meeting on Aug. 11, applies to data centres, enterprise computing sites, and other similar high-demand processing facilities.
The pause gives staff a chance to look into matters such as noise levels, electricity needs, and how these facilities fit in with local land use-issues often raised about computing infrastructure locations.
Ward 6 councillor Tom Adams brought forward the motion due to “growing concerns” about large-scale data centres and the necessity of understanding their complex and energy-intensive nature on land usage.
“Further study is not only appropriate, it’s responsible,” Adams said.
“Oakville deserves clear, evidence-based understanding of how data centres interact with our electricity, our water, our wastewater, our telecommunications infrastructure, our environmental goals, our employment lands, the character of our neighbourhoods, and most importantly, the health of our residents, including impacts from noise, vibrations and other air emissions,” he stated.
This decision follows news that a 320 MW artificial intelligence data centre could potentially be established on a 25-acre site at 3480 Ninth Line in Ward 6.
HIVE BUZZ HPC from Canada acquired this property from the Bucci family on May 15 for $12 million.
A few days later, they shared plans to build an industrial-scale AI infrastructure facility-a gigafactory-somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area between Waterloo and Toronto. The announcement indicated they aim to have the $3.5 billion facility operational by late 2027.
The company hasn’t replied to requests for comments regarding its plans for the Oakville site.
Though Oakville hasn’t received any official development proposal yet, town staff mentioned they have “participated in pre-consultation discussions that indicate potential market interest in Oakville.”
The moratorium doesn’t specifically target the Ninth Line property but will affect new data centre developments throughout Oakville.
Councillor Natalia Lishchyna from Ward 6 supported Adam’s motion as well; she emphasized that decisions should be based on solid evidence.
“Taking the time to study these issues is not about prejudging the outcome or saying no to innovation,” she said. “It is about making sure we have the facts before us and the appropriate policies in place before making decisions that could have long-term consequences.”
Councillor Sean O’Meara from Ward 1 backed the one-year freeze but warned against dismissing potential advantages of having data infrastructure within Canada.
“Either we figure out how we’re going to control our own information and our own privacy and our children’s privacy or other countries are going to control it,” he noted. “So we have to be very careful about what we’re trying to do.”
Councillor Jeff Knoll from Ward 5 encouraged town staff to collaborate with neighboring municipalities facing similar challenges regarding facility development.
A report shared with councillors during their Aug. 10 meeting outlines basic considerations related to data centre projects.
Oakville joins other towns struggling with developing these controversial centers.
Recently Mississauga councillors voted for a one-year ban on new data centres; however Burlington and Hamilton councils opted against implementing such a moratorium.
Mayor Rob Burton pointed out that this moratorium may face legal challenges ahead.
“It is a fact that an interim control bylaw can be appealed so it may very well happen that we will be tested,” he stated.
