FILE - A Google Data Center in The Dalles, Ore., on April 1, 2026.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
As community backlash against data centers grows across Oregon and much of the country, Clackamas County is weighing the pros and cons of having the computing facilities.
County commissioners expressed interest in the tax revenue data centers could bring to the county — which has faced shortfalls in the past several budget cycles — but reservations about their energy and water use.
Commissioner Diana Helm said she wanted to alleviate some of the fear the subject of data centers generates.
“Just saying ‘data center,’ people get up in arms — ‘Oh, we can’t have those here,’” Helm said during a policy discussion on data centers on July 7. “Well, we can and we should.”
Helm, who was appointed to the commission last year and is seeking to keep her seat in a runoff election this November, noted data centers are necessary for use of smartphones, cloud storage and artificial intelligence.
As artificial intelligence and the data center industry continue their rapid growth, she said it’s important for the county to do its ‘homework.’
Helm and the county’s director of transportation and development, Dan Johnson, emphasized that not all data centers are the hundred-plus-acre hyperscale facilities that dominate headlines.
During the discussion, county staff said there are no data centers in the county, but OPB learned Siemens operates one on its campus in Wilsonville.
In an email to OPB, a county spokesperson clarified “there are no data centers within unincorporated Clackamas County, where zoning is overseen by the County.”
Under Clackamas County zoning code, data centers would be allowed in areas zoned as general industrial, light industrial, business park and commercial. Johnson suggested it would probably be best to keep them limited to industrial areas. Doing so would require amending the code.
County staff also said the county has received no applications related to plans for a future data center development.
The state has a moratorium in place on new data center projects using tax breaks through the enterprise zone program. But Johnson clarified that there is nothing to stop developers from building a data center without that specific tax incentive.
Use of the enterprise zone to extend tax breaks decades into the future for some data center projects in Hillsboro is part of the reason anger over data centers has neared a boiling point in recent weeks in that community.
Helm mentioned that the current commercial real estate market makes the timing ripe for data center development.
While commissioners expressed interest in the economic benefits data centers could bring, they voiced concern about the noise, heat, water and power impacts they could have.
Commissioner Martha Schrader specifically mentioned worry about the capacity of the electrical grid and potential rate hikes.
Though the board made no official decisions at the July 7 meeting, it plans to return at a future meeting with a draft of policy guidelines for data centers.
Clarification: A previous version of this story stated there were no data centers in Clackamas County, based on statements from county officials. OPB subsequently learned of a data center on the Siemens campus in Wilsonville, which is not within the county’s jurisdiction. This story has been clarified to reflect that.
