Monterey Park City Council tables proposal for massive data center

Monterey Park tabled a proposal for a massive data center project after seeing concerned residents pack into the city council chambers.

It centers around a plan to renovate a vacant office building and property into a 250,000-square-foot data center. Data centers power everything from social media platforms to artificial intelligence projects. The server farms require a tremendous amount of electricity to power the equipment and tons of water to cool everything. 

Residents opposed the proposal over environmental concerns. 

"Primarily, I have concerns about the pollution that would be happening, both physical and noise-wise," said Tilda DeWolfe, who has been living in Monterey Park for 50 years. 

Earlier this fall in Louisiana, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, began building its largest-ever AI server farm near a small community of 19,000 residents. State officials said the data center would boost the area's economy.

"Ideally, they should be hosted in places not too close to residential communities, because of the noise pollution, air quality, water impact and electricity power demand," UC Riverside Associate Professor Shaolei Ren said.

Union workers supported the project, believing the construction would create jobs.

The city council will revisit the proposal on Jan. 20, 2026.