Monterey Park Votes to Permanently Ban Data Centers

June 5, 2026 – Voters in a Los Angeles suburb backed a permanent citywide data center ban by more than 86 percent Tuesday, the first time Americans have used the ballot box to block the facilities for good.

The measure in Monterey Park, Calif., known as Measure NDC, does not expire and cannot be overturned by city council, only by another public vote.

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Jose Sanchez , a city councilmember, said taking the ban to voters was designed to give it staying power a council ordinance alone could not.

“Being able to go to court and say the residents of Monterey Park voted to ban data centers is a much better gauge of where our residents are versus [if] only five city council members voted for an ordinance,” Sanchez said.

The vote followed a proposal by HMC StratCap, an Australian investment firm, to build a roughly 247,000-square-foot facility on a mostly vacant business park. The site backed onto a park used for weekend youth softball games and bordered homes valued at more than $1 million.

Hundreds packed a city council meeting in January, speaking past midnight, after which "No Data Center" yard signs in English and Chinese spread across the predominantly Asian American neighborhood.

HMC StratCap withdrew its application before the vote and said it would not pursue legal action, though it had earlier threatened to sue and called the ballot language biased.

Opponents cited noise, water and electricity costs, and proximity to homes. Supporters argued the project would have generated $5 to $7 million in annual tax revenue and anchored the long vacant business park. Union workers also backed it at council meetings, citing job creation, though they were outnumbered.

Steve Kung , co-founder of No Data Center Monterey Park, said the result exceeded expectations. “We were all hoping for big numbers,” he said.

The Data Center Coalition, a trade association backing the facilities' expansion, warned the outcome signals the area is “closed for business.”

Monterey Park is the sharpest expression yet of a nationwide backlash that has seen cities from Denver to Minneapolis pass temporary moratoriums, all reversible by council vote. Monterey Park’s city council had already passed an indefinite moratorium on data centers in April.

A recent Gallup poll found seven in 10 Americans oppose data center construction in their communities.