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Business Meeting

Orange County · Board of County Commissioners
Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Regular meeting Health and human servicesAppointments and personnelContracts and procurementData centers and large loadsEnvironment and sustainabilityTax rate and revaluationWater and sewer

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

Orange County commissioners take up a one-year moratorium on data centers as a land use. Staff present the impacts of large-scale data centers - power and water demand, environmental effects, and costs that could shift onto other ratepayers. The county attorney lays out two moratorium options and a possible amendment to the development ordinance regulating the use. The board decides which, if any, to pursue.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The tax appointment is a sign of how thin the county's tax office had become. Orange County was operating with an interim tax administrator, had a work group meeting monthly on assessment improvements, and by May had hired both an outside firm to evaluate its reappraisal process and a recruiter to find a permanent administrator.

The data center study the board received had been ordered on March 5, and covered the potential impacts of large-scale development of that kind in the county. The board's decision at this meeting was procedural rather than final: advertise the hearing, and have staff write the rules that would apply during a pause.

How the votes went

Every recorded vote at this meeting - the child abuse prevention proclamation, the tax administrator appointment, and the direction to advertise a hearing on the data center moratorium - passed unanimously.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (5)

Discussion item · 2Proclamation or recognition · 1Presentation · 1Appointment · 1
  1. 4.a Child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation
    Proclamation or recognition Health and human services
    A Child Abuse Prevention Month proclamation.
  2. 4.b Department of Social Services Protective Services Overview
    Presentation Health and human services
    An overview presentation on the Department of Social Services' protective services work.
  3. 6.a Appointment of Tax Administrator to Serve as Acting Tax Collector and Acting Tax Assessor
    Appointment Appointments and personnelTax rate and revaluation
    Appointing the tax administrator to hold the acting tax collector and acting tax assessor roles as well.
  4. 6.b Solicitation of Offers – 6823 Millhouse Road
    Discussion item Contracts and procurement
    Soliciting offers on county-owned property at 6823 Millhouse Road.
    • 6823 Millhouse Rd · no matching parcel on file
  5. 6.c Discussion of Moratorium on Data Centers as a Land Use
    Discussion item Data centers and large loadsEnvironment and sustainabilityWater and sewer
    A staff presentation on the potential impacts of large-scale data center development in Orange County, ordered by the board on March 5. The board voted unanimously to advertise a public hearing on declaring a one-year moratorium covering artificial intelligence data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities, data centers, data processing facilities and similar uses, and to direct staff to draft development ordinance amendments regulating those uses during a moratorium.
    Hearing advertised and staff directed to draft amendments, both unanimous. The moratorium was adopted April 21.

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