The Modesto Irrigation District board signaled Tuesday that it will formally consider the potential consequences of data center development in Modesto after public uproar over recent lobbying and a commercial listing for a North Modesto industrial site.
Board member Janice Keating, speaking remotely at the MID meeting, said district leaders must prepare now for possible impacts to both electricity customers and the city’s water supplies. District staff told the board the subject will be placed on a future agenda.
“Now it’s exploding and we need to deal with it,”
Keating said the district’s discussion should include steps to shield residents from potential electric rate increases that are often associated with the large power demands data centers place on the grid. She also flagged concern about extensive use of treated city water to cool server facilities — water MID supplies from the Tuolumne River to supplement Modesto’s wells.
Site and proposal details stir public reaction
The current controversy grew after Councilmember Chris Ricci said in social media posts around July 29 that he had received an email from NorthPoint Development about a possible data center at the former FMC plant site on Graphics Drive, near Kansas Avenue and Highway 99. Ricci said the posts he received were flooded with comments, most of them opposed to data centers in Modesto.
The property in question is a 22-acre parcel listed by the CBRE Group as the North Modesto Industrial Park at 1200 Graphics Drive. Promotional material associated with the listing showed an illustration of a potential 244,000-square-foot building adjacent to a recently built Pepsi distribution warehouse.
Dallas-based CBRE is the commercial real estate firm handling the listing. NorthPoint Development, which Ricci said contacted him, has expanded into data center development and lists 37 sites in 17 states on its website.
City process, land-use rules and next steps
City officials responded Thursday with a statement saying the city had received inquiries about data centers but that no formal proposals are being considered. The city noted any future proposal would be subject to full environmental review and would require Planning Commission and City Council hearings.
Another substantial constraint is current Modesto zoning: data centers are not an allowed land use under the city code, a fact that could delay or prevent redevelopment of the site without zoning changes or other approvals.
- Site: 1200 Graphics Drive (North Modesto Industrial Park) — 22 acres
- Illustrated concept: 244,000-square-foot building shown near Pepsi warehouse
- Developer noted in outreach: NorthPoint Development (37 sites in 17 states, per its website)
- Next steps: MID agenda placement for discussion; city has no formal proposal but any would need environmental review and hearings
| Issue | Local relevance |
|---|---|
| Electric demand | Potential upward pressure on MID rates and grid management |
| Water use | Possible reliance on treated Tuolumne River water supplied by MID |
| Zoning | Data centers not currently allowed under Modesto city codes |
At the MID meeting, staff did not provide a timetable for when the matter would appear on a board agenda. The district’s decision to study data center impacts places local utility officials into the early stages of a potential citywide policy conversation about how to balance industrial growth with community resource protection.
For residents and ratepayers, the immediate questions are concrete: whether a data center would require new transmission or generation resources, how costs might be allocated, and how much municipal water would be diverted from existing users for cooling operations if a facility relied on treated surface water rather than recycled or well sources.
Public reaction already has been visible in social media and at local meetings, and the city’s statement that no formal proposal exists for the site does not end the debate. Any developer seeking to pursue a data center in Modesto would face a sequence of regulatory steps — environmental review, planning hearings and possible zoning actions — that will invite further scrutiny from the public, the irrigation district and elected officials.
As the issue moves forward, residents should expect separate but related processes: MID’s internal review of utility implications and the city’s land-use and environmental review timeline. Both will be central to determining whether the former FMC parcel could be redeveloped as a data center and what costs or protections might be required to safeguard Modesto customers and water users.
Updates are likely as MID schedules the discussion and if any formal proposal emerges for the Graphics Drive property.
