Missouri City residents will get a formal say before any data center breaks ground in the city, thanks to a zoning ordinance the City Council approved unanimously in May.

The ordinance requires any proposed data center to obtain a special-use permit and undergo public hearings before both the planning and zoning commission and the City Council. Applicants must also disclose projected energy and water usage before receiving a building permit. Both bodies will evaluate potential effects on traffic, noise and the environment.

No data center currently operates within Missouri City's limits. But the rules position the city of more than 78,000 ahead of a statewide debate that intensified Sept. 9, when KPRC 2 reported Texas has more than 300 operating data centers and more than 200 additional facilities in the works.

The council voted 7-0 on May 18 to pass the ordinance on its second and final reading as part of the consent agenda. Mayor Robin J. Elackatt, Mayor Pro Tem Clouser and Councilmembers Brown-Marshall, Riley, Thompson, Ouderkirk and Emery all voted in favor. Assistant City Manager Shashi Kumar presented the measure at its first reading on May 14.

The amendment covers more than data centers. It also updates zoning rules for storage warehouses, concrete batch plants, gasoline service stations, car washes and auto repair shops.

Development Services Director Jennifer Thomas Gomez told Houston Public Media in June that the ordinance does not ban data centers outright. "This gives us the proactive ability to create the standards that we want to see for locations within the city of where they would be appropriate," Gomez said.

A mid-sized data center uses about 300,000 gallons of water per day depending on its cooling system, according to a policy brief from the Houston Advanced Research Center cited in the Houston Public Media report. Land-use legal experts counted nearly 400 data centers in Texas, with 55 in the Greater Houston region, according to Missouri City agenda documents cited in that same report.

A 2026 University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs survey found 62.9% of Houston-area respondents opposed having a data center within one mile of their homes, with energy demand among the leading concerns, the Defender Network reported Monday, Sept. 21.

In August, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and ERCOT to audit every data center requesting to connect to the state's electrical grid. That audit is expected to wrap up by Dec. 10. Abbott told KPRC 2 on Sept. 9 that he expects the Legislature to pass data center guardrails during the 90th session, which begins Jan. 12, 2027.

Residents who want to weigh in on future data center proposals in Missouri City can attend City Council meetings at City Hall, 1522 Texas Parkway, or call (281) 403-8500.