Letters

Date: July 26 2026

Subject: Written Submission, July 29 Council Meeting – Support for Data Centre Moratorium

Dear Mayor and Members of Council,

I urge Council to immediately pause Data Centre developments because developers are exploiting outdated definitions in our Zoning Bylaws to build heavy industrial infrastructure on lands designed for general employment.

City Council and the Planning and Development Committee must recognize:

That labelling a “science and technology facility” and then slipping it into E2 Employment zones is a gross misclassification of an operation that conducts no on-site research and develops no technology. It is an automated infrastructure vault that provides zero long-term jobs.

These new kinds of data centres are heavy industry. The physical requirements of the new type of data centres go beyond simple operations and function as decentralized power sources.  They can produce over 42 megawatts of power by employing 14 diesel backup generators and storing tens of thousands of litres of hazardous diesel fuel on-site. This is heavy industry, not a tech office.

The City of Mississauga is not alone in facing such challenges, and I hope that Council will pause this development, study the problem, and create modern zoning bylaws like the City of Markham did.

The Precedent: City of Markham, facing the same crisis, recognized that data centres were draining their municipal power grids, provided negligible employment, and violated the intent of the general employment zones.  Markham successfully passed bylaws amendments to legally separate data centres from “tech facilities” and strictly limit where they can be built. Mississauga must do the same.

A moratorium is a reasonable, necessary, and legally sound step. It gives our Planning and Development  Department the critical breathing room required to update our Official Plan, define data centres accurately as high-load utilities, and protect our prime employment lands from being consumed by heavy industry.

Please support a moratorium to protect Mississauga’s planning integrity.