11 days until Milton votes. Monday 26 October 2026. Everyone on the ballot, what each has filed, and what they say in their own words — see the ballot.
On 14 September 2026 council voted to have staff write a made-in-Milton planning framework for large data centres, and rejected a one-year pause on new ones while that is done. Milton has no zoning rule specific to data centres; developers have asked the grid operator for more than a thousand megawatts in the town, and one application on file already asks to add data centres to the permitted uses on employment land.
0 substantive motions at Council this term touch this by their wording, and 1 development application on file speaks to it.
Applications on file whose notice speaks to this issue.
4 articles from 2 outlets have covered this since 15 September 2026.
7 of the 44 candidates who could be reached have answered the 3 questions put to every candidate on this. Read their answers → or see who is running →.
Ward 1 resident · 21 September 2026
I hope all councillors will take the time to seriously research and consider the potential impacts of data centres on our community before moving forward.
Data centres can consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, while also contributing to noise and air pollution and potentially increasing pressure on local utility infrastructure and costs.
Some data centres can consume millions of gallons of water each day. Where exactly would that water come from in our community, and what would the long-term impact be on our water resources?
Yes, data centres may create jobs during construction. But once a facility is operational, the number of permanent jobs can be relatively limited. We need to ask whether those long-term economic benefits justify the environmental and infrastructure demands these facilities can place on a community.
I would also encourage council to look beyond the immediate economic promises and examine the experiences of communities that already have data centres. Are residents seeing the benefits they were promised? How have water consumption, electricity demand, noise, infrastructure, and utility costs affected those communities over time?
There is no need to rush into the data-centre boom simply because the industry is growing rapidly. We have an opportunity to carefully consider the long-term consequences before making decisions that may be difficult to reverse.
Make the long-term interests of our community the centre of the conversation.
1 comment on this issue was published and later taken down by the operator.
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