Brighton Moratorium Vote and Weld Petitions Put Data Center Work at Risk
Brighton’s City Council hears a push for a data center moratorium Tuesday night, Oct. 6, and a Weld County group is launching two petition drives of 10,000 signatures each, The Colorado Sun reports.
Market Impact
The target in Brighton is a proposed 2.5-million-square-foot, eight-building data center on farmland near 50th Avenue and County Road 40, about 25 miles northeast of downtown Denver. Dewberry engineers filed paperwork for the project, and activists say the developer is California-based Raeden. Neither responded to The Colorado Sun’s requests for comment. Some council members have backed considering a 90-day moratorium on data center approvals, and activist Jordan Forsyth said another member will support a 180-day freeze at the Oct. 6 meeting.
In Weld County, a nonpartisan group called Protect Our Water and Energy Resources (POWER) plans two petitions. The first needs 10,000 signatures in 45 days to refer the commissioners’ approval of Global AI’s proposed data center to a special election sometime after the November general election. The second, also needing 10,000 signatures, would create a ballot measure requiring a public referendum on any new data center or expansion. The group says it will work the next 30 days to reach every Weld County voter, and campaign manager Matt Cheroutes said, “The commissioners had their vote. Now it’s the people’s turn.”
Opposition centers on cooling-water use during historic drought, noise near subdivisions, and power demand of hundreds of megawatts. Activists also point to large fossil-fueled backup generators. The pushback is spreading. Colorado Springs delayed approval of a data center near Garden of the Gods after protesters were arrested at a hearing. Aurora’s council rejected a moratorium but added water-use requirements. United Power, the co-op serving the area, said it cannot discuss individual customer projects.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Site work and civil (Brighton): The Oct. 6 council meeting is the gate. A 90-day or 180-day freeze would pause approvals on the 50th Avenue and County Road 40 site. The source reports no GC, EPC or subcontract bid stage, only engineering paperwork filed through Dewberry, so don’t plan crews or equipment around this site yet.
- Weld County work: The 45-day signature window on the first petition and a possible special election after the Nov. 3 general election could stall the Global AI project the commissioners already approved. The second petition would add a public vote to every future data center or expansion. Price schedule risk and owner-delay terms into any Weld bid.
- Electrical and utility: Opponents are questioning how projects will be powered, and United Power, which declined to discuss individual customer projects, has not publicly detailed how supply would be handled. Activists have singled out large fossil-fueled backup generators, so generator, switchgear and interconnection scopes may draw more scrutiny. Expect owners to ask about alternatives in pricing.
- Mechanical and cooling: Aurora’s new limits on project water use show where Front Range rules may go. If you bid cooling or water-supply packages, ask owners early for their water-use assumptions.
- Bid pipeline: Colorado Springs, Aurora, Brighton and Weld County are all testing local controls at once. Don’t count on one municipality’s approval carrying over to the next. Spread bids across jurisdictions that haven’t moved toward a moratorium.
