Lakeshore is hitting the pause button on artificial intelligence data centres. Council has approved a one-year interim control bylaw that prohibits new AI data centres while the County of Essex studies the issue and develops planning recommendations for local municipalities. The measure passed at council’s final meeting of the 2022-26 term on Tuesday night. Mayor Tracey Bailey says council wanted protections in place while more information is gathered. “Council has serious concerns about large-scale AI data centers in Lakeshore. Basically these facilities have enormous demands on electricity, water, infrastructure. There’s questions about land use, environmental impacts, the noise. And really what we’re looking for is what benefit there is to a host municipality like Lakeshore,” Bailey said. Bailey says residents want assurance that local services are protected before major developments are considered. “We’re certainly hearing from residents that they’re concerned about the energy rates, water limitations, the demand for hydro. We know we have power outages,” she said. She says the bylaw gives the municipality time to better understand those impacts before any large-scale proposals move ahead. “We’ll have the right planning tools and planning processes in place that allow us to to make good decisions. So mostly it’s about directing administration to prepare the report at the county level, prepare an interim control bylaw here that prohibits them in the meantime, and make sure that we have the planning tools to protect Lakeshore in general and also the taxpayer,” Bailey said. Bailey added that Lakeshore supports innovation and recognizes data centres will likely be needed somewhere in Ontario, but said municipalities need clear rules and local input first.
