Ballot measure gives Boulder City voters a chance to weigh in on data centers

Boulder City residents will get to decide this November whether an additional 14,000 acres of city-owned land should be opened to data center development. 

In February, the Boulder City Council authorized a ballot measure allowing voters to approve data center development as a new permitted use within portions of the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area — a massive 100,000 acre tract southwest of Boulder City.

Boulder City purchased the site in 1995, but the city charter strictly limits development in the area without voter approval. More than 86,000 acres in the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area are also protected under a multi-species habitat conservation easement and cannot be developed.

Boulder City’s Question 1 will appear on residents 2026 general election ballot, asking voters “Should data center facilities be an approved land use within the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area outside of the Multi-species Habitat Conservation Easement?”

If approved, the Boulder City Council would effectively be authorized to lease an additional 14,000 acres of city-owned land to data center developers. Any data center proposal in the transfer area

would still need to undergo the city’s standard land-use and leasing process, where the City Council can determine whether or not to approve developments. 

The ballot measure would not affect land use outside the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area, which is generally not limited under city charter. For example, the ballot question would not impact the City Council’s authority to approve a data center lease agreement on the nearly 90 acres of city-owned site where Townsite Solar 2 LLC originally  proposed their controversial Townsite Data Center. The developer pulled that application in July in the face of broad public opposition. 

The ballot question also will not affect Townsite Solar 2 LLC’s ability to build their Townsite Data Center on federal land adjacent to Boulder City-owned land. 

Boulder City acquired the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area in 1995 under an agreement with the Colorado River Commission under the condition that the area only be used for public recreational purposes, solar energy facilities, habitat preservation, public utility infrastructure, and roads. 

Over the years, Boulder City voters have expanded land use options in the transfer area through ballot questions. In 2007, voters approved geothermal development in the area. Voters expanded land use options again in 2022 to include other clean energy technologies and natural gas. 

Arguments for the passage of Question 1 submitted by the Ballot Question Committee that supports the measure note that lease agreements with data center developers could attract “much-needed additional financial options” for the city, adding the city could charge “10 times more rent per acre for data center leases compared to current solar developments.”

The Ballot Question Committee notes that Boulder City heavily relies on revenue from solar leases, which have brought in millions of dollars in revenue annually, but warns that many of those leases will soon expire. 

Since this ballot measure was approved by the City Council in February, Boulder City residents have overwhelmingly opposed building data centers within city limits. 

Brynn De Lorimier, a Boulder City resident who has led a grassroots campaign against data center development, argued the City Council should not push for more data center development before establishing guardrails for facility size, water systems, heat, energy use, or environmental impacts.

“Our city is moving way too fast on this,” De Lorimier said. “They haven’t looked at the long-term impacts that this could have on our community.”

“If ballot question one gets approved, it’s quite likely that immediately we’re going to have three, four applications for data center companies as soon as that November election happens, and who knows how many more will follow,” she continued. 

De Lorimier, who like the City of Boulder City joined an appeal with the Center for Biological Diversity to halt the construction of a data center on federal land near Boulder City, said she is pushing for additional ballot questions limiting data center development in the community. 

She spearheaded a petition to add three questions to this year’s general election ballot, one of which deals with data centers, but they failed to receive enough verified signatures to move forward.

“We will be introducing those again,” De Lorimier said.