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High-stakes Hillsboro meeting to tackle data center boom.High-stakes Hillsboro meeting to tackle data center boom The Hillsboro City Council is set to discuss the future of data centers Tuesday evening as the city faces a surge of applications for tax incentives ahead of a state-imposed moratorium.Community members are invited to attend a City Council work session on data centers at 6 p.m.Tuesday at the Hillsboro Civic Center.The session will pause for the regular City Council meeting at 7 p.m.and may resume afterward.Watch the meeting here.The discussion comes as demand for artificial intelligence and cloud-based services fuels interest in new data center development across the region.Hillsboro recently received 17 applications for enterprise zone tax exemptions in a matter of weeks, according to city officials.PAST COVERAGE: Hillsboro rally targets planned data centers; city says pause in new applications expected Mayor Beach Pace said the city stopped accepting new applications after May 7 to ensure pending requests could move through the approval process before a statewide moratorium takes effect June 6."And be able to go through the approval process prior to the June 6, 2026, moratorium date, thereby creating a pause in new data center applications," Pace said.Oregon lawmakers recently expanded tax exemptions aimed at accelerating major industrial development projects.However, the same legislation also established a one-year moratorium on new tax breaks for data centers beginning June 6.RELATED: Oregon regulators move to make data centers pay more for grid expansion In a recent YouTube video, Pace said the city is required to approve enterprise zone applications if developers meet state requirements."Please know that when those applications come in for enterprise zones, which is a form of tax abatement, that we have to approve them if those developers meet those requirements," Pace said.The moratorium follows years of debate over the rapid growth of data centers in Hillsboro.Critics argue the facilities consume valuable industrial land while creating relatively few jobs.PAST COVERAGE: In Hillsboro, petition seeks pause on new data centers amid energy and farmland concerns In an interview with KATU's Victor Park last month, Dirk Knudsen, a longtime community activist who opposes additional data center development, said he has spent years raising concerns about the industry's expansion."I fought these for a long time, the six years I've been working on this.Each one that went in sort of disturbed another piece of land that should have been for high-paying jobs," Knudsen said.Knudsen said he wants city leaders to take additional steps beyond halting new applications."I want them to pay what Nike and other companies pay, right?Or what Intel pays?" he said.Pace, meanwhile, pointed to the economic benefits data centers have brought to the city."I also want to let you know that economic development has been able to provide the city some pretty amazing things like the Hidden Creek Community Center, fire stations, emergency vehicles and playgrounds such as Oro over here in the corner," Pace said in the YouTube video.City leaders are expected to discuss the impacts of data center development, tax incentives and future land-use considerations during Tuesday's work session.Updates planned for this story following the meeting.