The city at the heart of Oregon’s Silicon Forest became the first in the state to enact a moratorium on new land use applications for data centers. The Hillsboro City Council unanimously adopted. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A contentious Salem City Council meeting over a proposed data center ran into the early morning hours on Tuesday. Neighbors say they’re upset they’re only … After a contentious public meeting, Salem City Council will hold a special meeting Aug. 3 to consider initiating a moratorium on AI data centers. Some called for a pause in data center development, similar to the moratorium just approved by Hillsboro’s city council, while others say the facility could boost the economy. What Council Decided Salem City Council approved two policy motions by 8-0 votes: one directing staff to examine restrictions on future data center nondisclosure agreements and another creating a data center task force. Salem residents packed City Council chambers Monday night to weigh in on a proposed data center development. Dozens of people living in and near Salem railed against a California startup’s plan for a $5 billion data center at Monday’s city council meeting, expressing dismay at the scale of the. City Manager Krishna Namburi announced the project publicly at a July 13 council meeting after the city’s non-disclosure agreement with Verrus ended. The company has since said it plans to move forward and intends to submit its land use application soon. The city of Salem revealed it is in talks with a California-based company over a possible data center project in the Mill Creek Corporate Center on Monday after the city was released from a non-disclosure agreement last week. Here’s what local leaders are saying about the south Salem data center project by Verrus and how the public can weigh in.