lferrell@alamosanews.com 

SOUTH FORK- The South Fork Town Board discussed a proposed moratorium Thursday that would temporarily halt the acceptance and processing of permit applications for new data centers, citing concerns over the facilities' potential strain on local resources. The board approved an ordinance by the end of the meeting. 

Ordinance No. 2026-03, introduced at the board’s regular meeting June 18, establishes a temporary freeze on any new site development plans or zoning permits where a data center is proposed as the primary use. Town officials noted that South Fork is not currently zoned to allow data centers, as the municipality lacks specific regulations to handle the distinct infrastructure and environmental impacts of the high-intensity computing industry. 

By approving the ordinance, this allows the town sufficient time to research and draft appropriate standards. The moratorium will expire after one year or upon the effective date of new amendments to the South Fork Zoning Code and Revised Municipal Code. 

"There is considerable interest and concern among residents within the Town of South Fork that data centers have the potential to create an unmanageable burden on critical energy and water resources," the ordinance states. 

Under the ordinance, the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission is charged with establishing a public engagement process. This would involve creating a working group composed of community members, town staff, trustees, and industry experts to study data center impacts and recommend policies addressing noise, air quality, proper placement, and water guardrails. 

The local decision comes amid a broader wave of concern regarding data centers in rural communities across Colorado. While developers point to the potential for technological investment, rural communities have increasingly pushed back due to the massive electrical grids and heavy water consumption required to keep data servers cool. 

Earlier this year, neighboring Saguache County passed an emergency temporary moratorium on data centers to buy time for updates to its local land use codes. Several other Colorado communities, including Larimer, Archuleta, and Boulder counties, have passed similar pauses in recent months following the state legislature's failure to pass statewide environmental regulations for the industry. 

The South Fork ordinance defines a data center as any facility where the primary use is the storage, processing, management, and transmission of digital data or cloud computing services.