Benicia Planning Commission is considering banning large-scale data centers and limiting smaller ones under the industrial zoning code.
The Benicia Bridge, By Monica Vaughan, September 9, 2026
As Benicia prepares for waves of development following the closure of the Valero Refinery, city officials will consider banning large-scale data centers and limiting smaller ones.
“Right now, if a data center wanted to come into our industrial park, they would be allowed ‘by right,’” City Manager Mario Giuliani told The Benicia Bridge.
The Benicia Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday and plans to vote that evening on recommended changes to the zoning code to add specific language regulating data centers. The City Council will have final say before any zoning changes are adopted.
Cities across the country – from Coachella to Corpus Christi – are adopting moratoriums or outright bans on large-scale data centers in response to public outcry over centers’ heavy resource use.
No data center has been proposed in Benicia…. [continued on The Benicia Bridge – click here…]
Excerpt posted from The Benicia Bridge
Excellent reporting from Benicia’s newest award-winning journalism duo, Monica Vaughan and Laura López González.
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