Colorado Cities Draw Data Center Lines From 1 MW to 100 MW. The Number Decides Which Buildings Can Host Computing.

Grand Junction paused data centers at 1 MW; other Colorado cities use 10 MW or 100 MW. Learn why the threshold decides which buildings can host computing, and what standards work.

Oct 28, 2026

a city with a mountain in the background — Photo by Caleb Jack on Unsplash

Colorado cities are pausing data centers at thresholds that range from 1 MW to 100 MW, and the number a city chooses decides whether ordinary office and industrial buildings can lease space to computing tenants. National planning guidance favors tiered rules that let small facilities proceed and send large campuses through public review with firm limits on noise, water and power.

Key Takeaways

Colorado lawmakers killed both state data center bills in May, leaving cities to write their own rules.
Grand Junction paused data centers of 1 MW or more on October 21; Loveland and Broomfield use 10 MW; Longmont bans facilities above 100 MW.
Industry sizing puts company-run and edge data centers at 1 to 10 MW, small enough to fit in ordinary office and industrial buildings.
Planning guides recommend tiered rules: small server rooms allowed, mid-size facilities with conditions and large campuses through public hearings.
Measurable noise and water limits, proof of utility capacity and public reporting protect residents without blocking every computing tenant.

Colorado Writes Data Center Rules One City at a Time

One megawatt is the threshold Grand Junction chose on October 21 when the City Council voted 6-0 to pause new data centers for up to a year. Any facility with a projected, designed or requested electrical load of 1 MW or more falls under the pause; server rooms inside existing businesses do not.

Grand Junction is the latest of several Colorado governments to pause or limit data centers this year. Denver’s citywide pause runs through at least May 2027, and the city has named a 26-member working group that includes Xcel Energy and Denver Water. Jefferson County, Boulder County and Larimer County adopted pauses of their own. Loveland and Broomfield set their lines at 10 MW; Broomfield chose that number because it is half the 20 MW design capacity of the largest data center already operating in the city, which currently uses 6.3 MW. Loveland’s council takes up the economic development and land use questions on October 27. Longmont banned so-called hyperscale facilities above 100 MW.

These cities are acting because the state did not. In May, lawmakers rejected both a bill offering data centers a 20-year sales and use tax exemption and a bill requiring renewable power and ratepayer protections. The two measures drew 196 lobbyists for 150 clients. “So now no one gets incentives for data centers, but we also don’t have any guardrails for data centers,” said Sen. Lisa Cutter, who chairs the Senate committee that heard them.

The pressure on the grid is real. Xcel Energy has told Colorado regulators that data centers account for 62% of its projected energy growth and 72% of its projected peak demand growth in the state.

Thresholds 100 Times Apart Decide Which Tenants Qualify

A threshold sounds like a technical detail. For property owners it determines what a building can be used for.

Industry sizing from data center developer DC Blox places edge data centers, small sites near users, at up to 10 MW; enterprise data centers, the server facilities companies run for their own operations, at 1 to 10 MW; multi-tenant colocation facilities at 3 to 50 MW; and hyperscale campuses at 100 MW or more. A 1 MW line reaches into the range of computing tenants that lease space in conventional office parks and industrial buildings. A 100 MW line reaches only the largest campuses.

Taunton, Massachusetts, shows the stakes. On October 20 its City Council banned new data centers citywide. VMD Companies, which owns industrial property off John Hancock Road, had a prospective tenant that public records show would need 24 MW at full buildout. The company asked for an exemption for existing approved industrial buildings and warned that the ban put a multimillion-dollar deal at risk. With no permit application pending, the city said the project could not be grandfathered.

Thresholds elsewhere tend to be higher. New York and Idaho use 50 MW for state requirements, Oklahoma uses 75 MW and Virginia uses 100 MW, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). San Jose, California, applies its standards to large energy users of 20 MW or more.

Other Regions Show the Range of Choices

The same debate is playing out across the country with different answers. San Francisco and Oakland adopted 45-day data center moratoriums on October 6. Oakland’s definition reaches generators and substations, which could pause supporting energy equipment as well. San Jose chose standards instead of a pause: its draft rules for projects of 20 MW or more would require recycled or low-water cooling, 100% carbon-neutral electricity and EPA Tier 4 backup generators, along with a commercial linkage fee of about $4 to $5 per square foot and an energy reliability fee of about $50,000 per MW, according to Holland and Knight. Santa Clara has new projects effectively on hold until its municipal utility, Silicon Valley Power, resumes accepting applications.

In Florida, Manatee County adopted a 12-month moratorium on October 8 that covers data centers and other large-load facilities. The county noted that its land development code did not define either use, and that a new state law effective July 1 preserves local authority to regulate them.

Some rules reach equipment that building owners also use. The Chester and Montgomery county model in Pennsylvania limits fossil fuel generator testing to 100 hours a year on weekday daytime hours and prohibits using generators for peak shaving or supplying power to the grid. Owners who plan to enroll backup generators in demand response programs should read local data center rules closely.

The Money Behind the Approvals

Communities weigh real revenue against real costs. Loudoun County, Virginia, the world’s largest data center market, collected $1.2 billion in data center property taxes in fiscal 2026, 39% of its budget. Data centers there support more than 17,000 direct and indirect jobs, and the Board of Supervisors approved 32 of 39 data center applications from 2022 to May 2026. That revenue is why counties compete for the industry and why 28 of the 38 states that offer data center sales-tax incentives considered rolling them back this year, as reported by Colorado Newsline citing the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Cities are also negotiating direct payments. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, secured $20 million from developer Chirisa Technology Parks, split between economic development and clean energy funds, with no city tax break, plus a water cap and noise limits written into the agreement. FAS found Frederick County, Maryland, secured more than $110 million in earmarked contributions. FAS recommends treating such agreements as a supplement to zoning rules, because a negotiated deal cannot fill gaps in the code.

Standards That Protect Residents Without Stranding Buildings

Planning guidance from FAS, the Chester County and Montgomery County planning commissions in Pennsylvania and Fairfax County, Virginia, points to a common set of tools.

Tiered definitions. Treat small server rooms as accessory uses, allow mid-size facilities with conditions and require a public hearing above a size line. Loudoun ended automatic approval of data centers in 2025 and now requires a special exception.
Measurable noise limits. The Pennsylvania model sets 40 decibels at night and 45 by day at the property line; Frederick County caps 55. FAS recommends annual testing whether or not neighbors complain.
Setbacks scaled to size. Fairfax County requires 200 feet from residential property and 300 feet for backup generators; the Pennsylvania model uses 1,000 feet from homes for large facilities.
Water limits. Closed-loop cooling and daily caps, such as Lancaster’s 20,000 gallons per day per campus, with air cooling in dry regions. Denver Water estimates one proposed facility could use about 20 times the annual water of an average industrial customer.
Proof of power. Require confirmation of utility capacity before approval and support a separate rate class for very large customers so their grid costs do not fall on others.
Transparency and exit plans. Annual public reporting of energy and water use, limits on nondisclosure agreements and decommissioning plans.

Rules built this way let a 2 MW computing tenant move into a vacant flex building with conditions while a 200 MW campus earns approval in public.

What Owners and Planners Should Do Now

Owners: Check each property’s zoning against local definitions. Ask current and prospective tenants about planned server loads, and document existing approvals before a pause takes effect.
Investors: Treat local data center rules as a factor in underwriting industrial and flex properties, since a pause or ban can remove a tenant category from a submarket overnight.
Developers: Engage early with cities writing rules. Grand Junction, Loveland and Denver are all drafting standards now, and Loveland takes up utility considerations on December 8.
Planners: Pair any pause with a firm schedule for permanent rules, set thresholds by size tier and write noise, water and power requirements in numbers.

Colorado expects lawmakers to return to data centers next year. Until then, the line a city draws will set what its buildings can host.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does a 1 MW threshold matter to office and industrial owners?

Company-run and edge data centers commonly range from 1 to 10 MW, small enough to lease space in conventional buildings. A 1 MW pause can block those tenants along with large campuses.

Which Colorado cities have paused data centers?

Grand Junction (1 MW), Loveland (10 MW), Broomfield (10 MW) and Denver, along with Jefferson, Boulder and Larimer counties. Longmont bans facilities above 100 MW.

What standards do planning guides recommend?

Tiered size rules, public hearings for large facilities, numeric noise and water limits, proof of utility capacity, public reporting and decommissioning plans.

Does Colorado have state data center rules?

No. Lawmakers rejected both an incentive bill and a regulation bill in May 2026, and sponsors expect to return to the issue next year.

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