Salem city attorney says AI data center code interpretation would apply to pending Verrus application (Nov. 8)
Quick Read
Salem City Attorney Dan Atchison recommends the City Council adopt Resolution No. 2026-46, which would find that AI and hyperscale data centers fit no use category in the city's development code, according to his report as quoted by the Statesman Journal.
Atchison's report calls the move a code interpretation, not a code amendment, and says it would apply to Verrus's pending Oakline at Mill Creek application because the council would be clarifying existing code, the Statesman Journal reported.
The council holds a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at Loucks Auditorium in the Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. SE, before deciding.
Written testimony is due by 5 p.m. Monday to cityrecorder@cityofsalem.net, according to the city's hearing notice.
SALEM, Ore. - Salem's city attorney is urging the City Council to formally declare that artificial intelligence and hyperscale data centers are not allowed anywhere under the city's existing zoning code, a step that would also reach the Google-backed Verrus data center proposal already under review in southeast Salem.
City Attorney Dan Atchison's report on Resolution No. 2026-46, released ahead of a public hearing Monday night, recommends the council adopt the interpretation "to clarify for staff and the public that AI or hyperscale data centers are not allowed in Salem," according to the Statesman Journal, which quoted the report. Willamette News first reported the hearing on Oct. 29, based on the city's public notice, before the staff report was out.
What the resolution would do
The resolution interprets one section of the Salem Revised Code, SRC 400.110(e), which created a use category called "data center facilities." According to the city's hearing notice, the council would find that the term means "data centers that were common and prevalent in Salem and Oregon in 2013-2014," when the category was added to the Unified Development Code, and that AI and hyperscale data centers "are not included within that classification, nor are they included in any other classification" in the code.
The code section itself describes facilities that house computer systems for data storage or transmission, with examples such as server farms and co-location facilities, and does not expressly exclude AI or hyperscale data centers or set a size or power limit, the Salem Business Journal reported.
The city attorney's reasoning
Atchison argues the council that wrote the category a dozen years ago never had today's AI campuses in mind. The Statesman Journal quoted his report:
"In context, when the term was added to the Code in 2013-2014, AI and hyperscale data centers were rare in Oregon, were exclusively in eastern Oregon, with none in Salem or western Oregon, and it was unlikely that Council during that time either contemplated AI or hyperscale data centers or had an intent to include them in the Code."
The report says hyperscale and AI data centers differ fundamentally from traditional data storage facilities because their main purpose is continuous, industrial-scale computing, according to the Statesman Journal. The council has never formally interpreted the term and is doing so now because of the large data center application in southeast Salem, the paper reported.
Why it matters for Oakline at Mill Creek
The key legal point is timing. Oregon generally judges a land use application under the rules in place when it was filed. Atchison's report says the council would be interpreting existing code rather than amending it, which takes a longer process, and that the interpretation would therefore apply to Verrus's pending application, the Statesman Journal reported.
If the council adopts that reading and it holds up, it would be a major hurdle for Oakline at Mill Creek, the AI data center campus Verrus has proposed in the Mill Creek Corporate Center. Verrus filed its land use application in July, and the city deemed it incomplete in August, Salem Reporter has reported.
Opponents of the resolution dispute that approach. Developer Aaron Stickney has filed written objections arguing the resolution amounts to a citywide ban adopted without the procedures required to amend land use rules, and that it cannot lawfully be applied to an application filed months earlier, the Salem Business Journal reported. In an Oct. 28 reply, Atchison described the resolution as a legislative interpretation of existing rules, not an amendment, zone change or decision on a specific application, and said state notices required for code amendments were therefore not needed, according to the Business Journal.
A pro-project page on the Oakline at Mill Creek website urges supporters to testify, saying the resolution "would change what Salem's zoning code means after a project has already applied." The city's notice warns that issues not raised before the hearing closes cannot later be raised in an appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.
Verrus offer
Ahead of the vote, Verrus Chief Executive Officer Nelson Abramson sent the full council a proposed community benefits agreement worth $10 million, copied to City Manager Krishna Namburi and Atchison, Salem Reporter reported. Willamette News has not reviewed the letter.
Background
The council adopted a 120-day moratorium on data center development, Resolution No. 2026-40, on Sept. 21 by a 7-0 vote, with Councilors Deanna Gwyn and Mai Vang absent. The city must keep processing the Verrus application, which came in before the moratorium, but Verrus cannot build while the moratorium is in effect, Salem Reporter reported. The council has also banned nondisclosure agreements with data center developers and started a broader update of its land use rules, the Statesman Journal reported. Hundreds of people have testified against the Verrus project, citing water, electricity and noise concerns, according to the paper.
How to attend, watch or comment
When: 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, 2026
Where: Loucks Auditorium, Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. SE
Watch: CC:Media's YouTube channel or Comcast Channel 21, according to the city notice; Salem Reporter says the meeting is livestreamed in English and Spanish. Agenda materials are on the city's council meetings page.
Written testimony: by 5 p.m. Monday by email to cityrecorder@cityofsalem.net or by mail to the City Recorder's Office, 440 Church St. SE, Salem, OR 97301
Remote testimony: sign up between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday at cityofsalem.net/comment-at-council to speak by Zoom
Willamette News could not directly download the staff report from the city's website early Sunday. Quotes from Atchison's report in this story are as published by the Statesman Journal. We will update this story after Monday's hearing.
By the Willamette News Local Desk. Edited by Channing Webb.
Related stories
Sources
City of Salem: Notice of public hearing, Resolution No. 2026-46 (via Salem Reporter public notices)
Statesman Journal: Salem City Council to vote on clarifying code to halt AI data centers (Nov. 6, 2026)
Salem Reporter: City meeting preview, by Joe Siess (Nov. 6, 2026)
Salem Reporter: Verrus offers Salem $10 million package ahead of data center code interpretation, by Joe Siess (Nov. 6, 2026)
Salem Business Journal: Salem data center zoning: dispute over AI facilities
Comments