HomeMy WebLinkAbout26-28699 - City Council - Ordinance Ordinance No. 26-28699
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ORDINANCE 26-28699
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 14 OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS (2015), AS AMENDED, TO ADOPT
REGULATIONS RELATING TO DATA CENTERS; PROVIDING FOR
FILING REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICATIONS TO DEVELOP DATA
CENTERS; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE
CUMULATIVE; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE;
PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE
DATE
WHEREAS, on August 3, 2026, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility
Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct
a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT’s
interconnection process; and
WHEREAS, the Governor’s directive requires the PUCT and ERCOT to complete their
audit before any data center project moves forward, and any project that fails to comply with the
requirements established by PUCT and ERCOT will be denied connection to the Texas grid; and
WHEREAS, in light of Governor Abbot’s directive, the City Council desires to establish
application requirements for data centers by amending Chapter 14 of the Code of the City of Fort
Worth; and
WHEREAS, requiring data centers to provide the City with proof of all necessary permits
and approvals from the PUCT and ERCOT as a filing requirement for a predevelopment
conference, plat, replat, building permit, or any other municipal permit necessary for development
of a data center is consistent with the Governor’s directive; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that that such regulations promote the public health,
safety, morals, and general welfare of the residents of the City of Fort Worth.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS THAT:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 14 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as amended, is hereby
amended in its entirety to be and read as follows:
CHAPTER 14: DATA CENTERS
§ 14-1 PURPOSE
Ordinance No. 26-28699
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The purpose of this chapter is to protect the public health, safety and welfare by regulating
Data Centers.
§ 14-2 APPLICABILITY
Except as provided by chapter 245 of the Texas Local Government Code, this chapter shall
apply to any Data Center that, after the effective date of this Ordinance, submits an application to
the City of Fort Worth for a predevelopment conference, plat, replat, building permit, or any other
permit necessary for the development of the Data Center.
§ 14-3 DEFINITIONS
The following term, when used in this chapter, shall have the meaning ascribed to it by this
section and shall supersede any other definition in the City Code:
DATA CENTER. Real and personal property consisting of buildings or structures
specifically designed or modified to house networked computers and data and transaction
processing equipment and related infrastructure support equipment, including, without
limitation, power and cooling equipment, used primarily to provide as a service to persons,
other than the company operating the data center, data and transaction processing services,
outsourced information technology services and computer equipment colocation services,
or used primarily to provide to a single user, including the user's affiliates, customers,
lessees, vendors and other persons authorized by the user, data and transaction processing
services. Data Center shall not include cryptocurrency mining, bitcoin mining, or other
similar operators.
§ 14-4 APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
(a) In addition to any other filing requirement of the City, every application for a predevelopment
conference, plat, replat, building permit, or any other permit necessary for the development of
a Data Center shall include written documentation showing that the proposed Data Center has
all necessary permits and approvals required by the Public Utility Commission of the State of
Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
(b) An application for a predevelopment conference, plat, replat, building permit, or any other
permit requirement for the development of a Data Center shall not be considered complete
until all documentation required by this section has been delivered to the City in the form and
manner established by the City.
(c) This section shall not apply to a Data Center that requests annexation by the City of Fort Worth
or that requests to enter into a pre-annexation agreement with the City of Fort Worth.
SECTION 2.
Ordinance No. 26-28699
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This ordinance shall be cumulative of all other ordinances of the City of Fort Worth, Texas,
and shall not repeal any of the provisions of such ordinances, except in those instances where
provisions of such ordinances are in direct conflict with the provisions of this ordinance.
SECTION 3.
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs,
sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence,
paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared void, ineffective or unconstitutional by the
valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness or
unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs or
sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without
the incorporation herein of any such void, ineffective or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence,
paragraph or section.
SECTION 4.
All rights or remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and
all violations of the City Code, or any amendments thereto that have accrued at the time of the
effective date of this ordinance; and as to such accrued violations, and all pending litigation, both
civil and criminal, same shall not be affected by this ordinance but may be prosecuted until final
disposition by the courts.
SECTION 5.
This ordinance shall be in full force and effect following its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: ATTEST:
By: __ ________________________________ ___________________________
Christopher Austria Jannette S. Goodall,
Sr. Assistant City Attorney City Secretary
ADOPTED: August 11, 2026
EFFECTIVE: August 11, 2026