Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai is asking the Board of Commissioners to temporarily halt new data center permitting on county-controlled land, a move that would extend the region's pause on the booming industry beyond Hillsboro's city limits.
Fai, who represents District 1, presented the proposal at the board's Tuesday, Aug. 25 meeting, according to the Hillsboro Herald. It has two parts: one would freeze new data center and AI computing facility applications within Washington County's own land-use jurisdiction, and the other would ask the Clean Water Services Board of Directors to stop accepting data center-related permits across its service district.
The pause would not affect Hillsboro's independent permitting authority. The city already enacted its own 120-day moratorium on July 27, barring new data center and battery storage applications through Nov. 24.
In an Aug. 24 statement, Fai said the county needs time to study the cumulative effects of data center growth on water, energy, sewer systems, electrical grid capacity and public finances before approving more projects. She said the county should understand not only whether a project can be accommodated but whether its policies protect public infrastructure, safeguard taxpayers and deliver measurable community benefit.
She is also calling for a closer look at how tax incentives and infrastructure costs are distributed among the county, schools and other public agencies.
No duration for Fai's proposed moratorium has been specified. Hillsboro's pause runs 120 days.
Political contrast
The proposal sharpens a divide between Fai and Commissioner Pam Treece, her opponent in the race for Commission Chair. At a board meeting on July 29, Treece said the county's role is limited to assessment and taxation.
"Our role is clearly around assessment and taxation only. We do not have an enterprise zone. We do not have a data center," Treece said, adding that when residents approach her about data centers, "my role and my job is to refer them to the appropriate governmental body … I will be continuing to say you need to be talking to Hillsboro."
State and regional context
The county proposal follows Gov. Tina Kotek's Aug. 7 written statement backing local moratoriums. According to The Oregonian, Kotek said she supports local governments pausing data center approvals but stopped short of endorsing a statewide ban. A DHM Research poll found two-thirds of Oregon voters favor a statewide moratorium.
Four Democratic state lawmakers have proposed a three-year moratorium on large data centers for the 2027 legislative session, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Hillsboro currently hosts 436 acres of data centers with 50 more under construction, serving companies including Adobe, LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok and X. Those facilities receive $84 million in local property tax breaks this year, according to The Oregonian. A lawsuit filed in June by 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Oregon Education Association and Hillsboro Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair challenges 17 enterprise zone tax exemption agreements tied to companies including NVIDIA, CoreWeave and Adobe.
The Hillsboro Planning Commission holds a public hearing on proposed data center code amendments on Wednesday, Aug. 26. City Council first and second readings are scheduled for Sept. 15 and Oct. 6. No vote outcome from the county board's Aug. 25 meeting was available at publication time.
