Denton Opens Data Center Moratorium Hearings as Core Scientific Seeks Land

DENTON — Denton City Council held the first of two required public hearings on Sept. 22, 2026, on a proposed 90-day moratorium on new data-center development, as Core Scientific, the city’s largest data-center operator, has approached Denton Municipal Electric about leasing more public land south of its current site.

The pause would give council time to study what it can legally do in response to resident pressure. Officials can extend the moratorium another 90 days. The next public hearing is Oct. 27, and Community Impact reporting on the city’s process says a vote could come as early as December. KERA and the Denton Record-Chronicle covered the packed special-called meeting the same week.

Power, land, and the 391 MW agreement

DME Assistant General Manager Chris Lutrick told council that Core Scientific had not said what additional land would be for, and that the company has not requested power beyond its power purchase agreement. The PPA allows up to 391 megawatts with no “dimmer switch” to cut usage when electricity prices spike. Lutrick said those limits are controlled by ERCOT.

Core Scientific leased 31 acres in 2021 for bitcoin mining, later shifting toward artificial intelligence. In November 2024, council unanimously approved leasing another 47.9 acres off Jim Christal Road near Denton Enterprise Airport. City presentations also note Qumulus AI plans about 20 megawatts when it comes online in 2028; construction had not started as of the hearing coverage.

Mayor Chris Watts said residents sent a clear message that those are not the conversations the community wants while a moratorium is still pending. City development officials said they are not holding talks on future data-center deals while the process runs.

The $3 billion tax-base link

Core Scientific’s shift added roughly $3 billion in certified assessed property value to Denton’s tax rolls this year, according to the KERA/DRC account. That value growth is the reason council cited for cutting the city property tax rate from $0.595420 to $0.548485 per $100 valuation. That civic-finance link is why this hearing belongs in a North Texas education and civic finance cluster, not only in a tech beat. Data-center taxable value helped buy a lower city rate; residents are now asking whether grid strain, rates, and land use outweigh that benefit for the next project.

The same budget season, council deferred a Denton Municipal Electric rate increase pending an Oct. 27 energy-fund work session, keeping electric rates in the same political week as the moratorium calendar.

Process timeline and statewide context

Community Impact’s Sept. 24 process story traces the path: Mayor Pro Tem Nick Stevens pitched a pause in May, council advanced it in June, and members unanimously started the legal moratorium process Aug. 18. Two noticed public hearings are required before a 90-day vote. Charlie Rosendahl, Denton’s development services director, presented that a vote could come as early as Dec. 1 after the Oct. 27 hearing.

Statewide, Gov. Greg Abbott directed environmental regulators to stop new large data-center electric permits while ERCOT audits projects, expanding an existing pause. Rosendahl noted interconnection studies and ERCOT approval for loads over 75 megawatts under that directive. Denton’s local hearing sits inside that wider Texas power-policy frame without replacing it.

Related Never Late News coverage in the North Texas civic finance cluster includes Fort Worth’s FY2027 budget and tax-rate package and Keller ISD’s November HVAC and power-systems bond.

Why this matters now

Denton residents packed the first hearing; no one spoke for more data centers in the KERA/DRC account. The civic fight is concrete: whether a temporary permit pause, possible code changes for modular and warehouse data centers, and ERCOT-limited PPAs can reconcile a $3 billion tax-base windfall with neighborhood and grid concerns.

For Discover readers following North Texas energy and municipal finance, the next date to watch is Oct. 27, when the second hearing and the DME energy-fund session share the calendar.

How Never Late News reported this

Never Late News based this report on KERA/Denton Record-Chronicle coverage published Sept. 24, 2026, of the Sept. 22 hearing, including Lutrick’s PPA and 391 MW comments, Core Scientific’s land approach and project history, the roughly $3 billion assessed-value addition and tax-rate cut from $0.595420 to $0.548485, and resident and mayor quotes; and on Community Impact’s Sept. 24 process timeline covering the two-hearing requirement, Oct. 27 next hearing, earliest December vote window, Qumulus AI’s planned 20 MW in 2028, and Abbott/ERCOT permit-pause context. We also note the same-week deferral of a DME electric rate increase pending the Oct. 27 energy-fund session as reported in Denton budget coverage. Primary source: KERA/DRC: Denton holds first hearing on a data center moratorium as Core Scientific eyes more land. Supporting process coverage: Community Impact Denton moratorium hearing. We did not invent interviews or independently meter DME loads for this draft.

Corrections and reader feedback

If you spot an error in megawatt figures, tax-rate decimals, acreage, hearing dates, or company names, email editor@neverlatenews.com with the correction and a source link. Never Late News corrects factual mistakes promptly and notes substantive updates when the City of Denton revises moratorium or utility materials.

About Never Late News: Never Late News is a US local and civic news site covering budgets, taxes, schools, housing, and public services with people-first reporting. This article carries the byline William J. Vaughn.