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Desert Hot Springs Hits Pause on Data Centers, Joining Valley-Wide Tech Moratorium
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, California — Desert Hot Springs has officially joined neighboring Coachella Valley cities by slamming the brakes on all new data center proposals and projects. The Desert Hot Springs City Council voted unanimously to implement an immediate 45-day moratorium, highlighting growing regional anxieties over the massive resources required to power modern tech infrastructure in an extreme desert climate.
City leaders noted that current municipal zoning and development rules completely fail to address data centers. There are currently no standards on the books regulating water consumption, noise pollution, or power grid demand for these massive computing hubs. Council members raised pressing alarms regarding the intense heat generated by data servers, questioning the logistical and financial sanity of building electricity-hungry facilities in a region where summer temperatures routinely breach 120 degrees.
The 45-day pause provides city staff and planners with necessary time to study the environmental and infrastructural impacts of data technology on the local community. Once the initial 45-day window expires, the council will meet again to decide whether to extend the moratorium for up to two years while permanent municipal regulations are drafted.
Desert Hot Springs Mayor Scott Matas used the meeting to clear up widespread rumors and misinformation regarding industrial growth along the Interstate 10 corridor. Rumors had been swirling that several major warehouse projects currently under construction near the I-10 and Indian Canyon Drive corridor could be easily converted into data centers. Matas firmly denied those rumors, clarifying that those properties have rigid, long-planned specific use permits as logistics and truck transit centers, and cannot be modified on a whim.
While acknowledging that the city has received several preliminary inquiries from tech firms, Matas emphasized that there are absolutely no data center projects currently approved or under active construction in the city. He assured anxious residents that there is zero reason for panic, noting that the city's situation is entirely different from neighboring Coachella, where an active, highly controversial data center campus proposal triggered intense public opposition before being paused.
Matas expressed minor frustration that the city's Planning Commission did not have a chance to formally review the ordinance before it reached the council floor, but he still voted strongly in favor of the urgency freeze. He drew a parallel to the region's historic cannabis cultivation boom, recalling how indoor growing operations initially strained local energy grids before the industry evolved to incorporate sustainable, high-efficiency practices. The mayor expressed hope that a similar regulatory study will allow the city to figure out exactly how to make data technology sustainable before welcoming it into the desert.
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By: NBC Palm Springs
June 17, 2026
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