The Mesa County Board of County Commissioners today, Sept. 29, unanimously approved a 12-month moratorium on data-center projects.

The commission took the action during a public hearing, and the moratorium takes effect immediately.

The county has been working on updates to its land-development code, because data-center facilities are not addressed in the old land-use code, which was last updated in 2020, according to a Mesa County news release.

While work on the land-development code continues, the moratorium temporarily pauses the acceptance, processing and approval of land-use applications for data-center facilities in unincorporated Mesa County, the news release said.

The moratorium supersedes the current guidelines and gives county staff time to continue updating other parts of the land-development code while gathering public feedback and input on data-center regulation, the news release said.

The county said it has no pending applications for data-center projects.