Salem Council to Weigh Barring AI Data Centers
The city will consider a code interpretation that would bar AI and hyperscale data centers from being built in Salem.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Data Centers
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The Salem City Council will consider on Nov. 9 whether existing codes bar AI data centers, hyperscale data centers, and other large-scale computational facilities. The move follows a moratorium on data center construction and a ban on non-disclosure agreements with data center developers.
Why it matters
The interpretation could affect the pending Oakline at Mill Creek project by Verrus planned for southeast Salem, which drew hundreds of opponents citing water use, sound, energy use, and environmental impacts. City Attorney Dan Atchison's report says city code only covers conventional data centers.
The council's review centers on the distinction between conventional data storage facilities and hyperscale or AI facilities, whose primary purpose is continuous, industrial-scale computing. Whether that distinction is written into existing code will determine if the interpretation applies.
The players
Salem City Council
The seven-member governing body of Oregon's state capital that votes on the code interpretation and previously enacted the data center moratorium.
Dan Atchison
Salem's City Attorney, whose report concluded that city code includes guidelines only for conventional data centers, not AI data centers.
Verrus
The developer behind the proposed Oakline at Mill Creek data center project in southeast Salem.
The details
The council will make a code interpretation rather than a code amendment, a process that applies to the pending Verrus application by clarifying existing code. The council also previously adopted a resolution to begin updating zoning and land-use rules for large data centers.
Timeline
2013-2014: The term "data center" was added to Salem's city code.
Nov. 9, 2026: Council meeting and public hearing on the data center code interpretation at Loucks Auditorium.
Roadmap
Salem's 2013-2014 code addition of the term "data center" predates AI and hyperscale facilities, which were absent from Oregon at the time. The council's interpretation now tests whether that older language reaches a category of facility its drafters never contemplated.
If the interpretation is adopted, Salem residents would see future AI and hyperscale data centers face a bar under existing code instead of new rules. Residents who oppose such projects over water, sound, and energy concerns could see the Verrus proposal affected directly.
The takeaway
Residents following local land-use decisions can attend the Nov. 9 public hearing or submit testimony to the City Recorder before the vote. Clear zoning language matters most when a new technology arrives that existing rules did not anticipate.
What happens next
The council will hold a public hearing and consider the code interpretation at its Nov. 9, 2026 meeting at Loucks Auditorium, 585 Liberty St. SE.
Further reading
For more on the infrastructure behind these facilities, see Data Centers coverage on Wisevoter.
More information
Contact the City of Salem City Recorder for documents related to the council's data center code interpretation.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Statesman Journal.
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