Pittsburg controversy over data center on old Delta View Golf Course

PITTSBURG, Calif. - The City of Pittsburg is moving forward with development plans to allow a 300,000-square-foot data center on the site of the former Delta View Golf Course, despite public backlash over the project. 

Data center debate

The controversy:

While city leaders emphasize that the project will generate significant municipal revenue and local jobs, community members are actively organizing to halt the proposal.  

The project site sits directly next to the Contra Costa Canal on land that previously housed the Delta View Golf Course, which closed in 2018. 

Following the closure, the city moved to sell the property with the intention of transforming it into a technology park.

Community resistance spilled into a city council meeting Monday night, where numerous residents voiced concerns over the facility's projected energy consumption, noise levels, water usage, and subsequent traffic congestion along West Leland Road.

Some community members also expressed concern that the large industrial footprint would permanently alter the city's character. At times, the mood got heated. 

 "How about you listen to the community?" one Pittsburg resident told the council during the public comment period. "When you represent Pittsburg, you represent this right here. If you want some money, I got some in my pocket. Leave the AI data centers alone."

Sonia Karem took to the podium to ask the council: "During a time when other states across America are stopping all data center construction, why are you even thinking about one to be allowed here?"

Karem added the primary cons of data centers are skyrocketing energy demand, energy usage that uses the equivalent of 100,000 to 2 million homes, and results in increased electrical costs for local residents. We already have a struggling power grid, we have massive water consumption. The centers require millions of gallons of water a day from cooling." 

Lawsuit filed

Dig deeper:

A completed environmental review commissioned by the city determined that any harmful environmental impacts could be successfully mitigated. 

However, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the city in December, alleging that officials failed to properly identify and analyze the project's impacts on local wildlife and greenhouse gas emissions.  

Addressing energy concerns, city officials stated that the massive amount of power required to run the data center will be drawn from a system entirely separate from the PG&E power grid that supplies local residents.  

Despite those assurances, residents argued that the land should be utilized for projects that directly benefit the local population. 

Public comments grew heated, with community members accusing the city council of a lack of transparency.  

"We, the residents, oppose this construction because it will not generate real local jobs," resident Miguel Alvarado said through a translator. "They will most likely bring in outside staff and it will only worsen traffic. Furthermore, it will only put our families at risk, especially children like those attending Rancho Madanos. We propose moving these projects to Lafayette or Walnut Creek."

An online petition demanding the city halt the data center project has garnered more than 13,000 signatures.

Pittsburg is not alone in navigating the controversial expansion of digital infrastructure. 

In April, the neighboring city of Oakley unanimously approved a ban on data centers, making it the first municipality in the Bay Area to block such facilities.

PittsburgTech