Salem residents will get a chance to weigh in on a proposed resolution that would exclude AI and hyperscale data centers from the city's development code.

The Salem City Council scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at Loucks Auditorium in the Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. SE, according to a public notice published by Salem Reporter on Oct. 29.

The hearing concerns Resolution No. 2026-46. The resolution would interpret the term "data center facilities" in Salem Revised Code (SRC) Section 400.110(e) to cover only data centers that were common in Salem and Oregon in 2013-2014. That classification was created in the city's Unified Development Code during that period. AI and hyperscale data centers would not fall under it or any other UDC classification, according to the hearing notice.

Salem's development code identified data centers as an allowed use in the Employment Center zone in 2014, Salem Business Journal reported. The proposed resolution would clarify that the 2014 classification never covered the kind of large-scale facilities at the center of the city's months-long debate.

How to participate

Residents can attend in person, watch on CC: Media's YouTube channel or Comcast Cable Channel 21, or testify remotely via Zoom. To sign up for online testimony, residents must register between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the day of the hearing at cityofsalem.net/comment-at-council.

Written testimony must reach the City Recorder by 5 p.m. on the day of the hearing by email at [email protected] or by mail to the City Recorder's Office, 440 Church St. SE, Salem, OR 97301. The notice warns that failing to raise an issue before the hearing closes could block an appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals on that issue.

The staff report will be available online by 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.

Background

The hearing is the latest step in a debate that intensified after Verrus proposed its Oakline at Mill Creek campus in southeast Salem. The company projected an investment exceeding $5 billion and about 75 permanent jobs, Salem Business Journal reported.

Gov. Tina Kotek directed the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to terminate the state's contract to sell roughly 32 acres at the Mill Creek Corporate Center for the project. The Salem City Council voted 8-0 in late July to create a data center task force and to explore restrictions on future nondisclosure agreements involving data centers.

The council then unanimously adopted a 120-day moratorium on data center construction on Sept. 21, under Resolution No. 2026-40. That moratorium expires Jan. 19, 2027, unless extended. Seven council members, including Mayor Julie Hoy, voted in favor. Councilors Deanna Gwyn and Mai Vang were absent.

The Data Center Task Force is separately expected to present its recommendations to the council on Dec. 7, according to a city press release. The city's data center webpage had invited residents to take a community survey on the task force's preliminary recommendations and a proposed code amendment to regulate data centers. That survey closed Oct. 27.

Residents seeking more information or a copy of the staff report can contact the City Recorder at 503-588-6097.