Stop the Eden Landing Data Center — Protect Hayward's Water, Power, and Air
Hayward City Council; California Energy Commission (Docket 23-SPPE-01); CA State Senator Aisha Wahab
**NOTE: This is an UPDATE (beginning Aug 13 2026) of the original petition.
1. Our ask has been strengthened from a "moratorium" to a "ban," which is a stronger permanent ask compared to a moratorium's conditional and temporary framing.
2.The petition previously asked the CEC/Council to require a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in place of the existing Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND). That ask is no longer realistic: the 30-day CEQA statute of limitations to challenge the May 2025 MND/SPPE approval expired around June 14, 2025, and the project's vested rights under that approval make a forced EIR extremely unlikely to survive a legal challenge — a risk City officials have publicly acknowledged ([Mercury News](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/21/hayward-approved-a-massive-data-center-then-it-rewrote-the-rules/)). Meanwhile, on September 15, 2026, the Hayward City Council is taking up a real, live legislative referral to ban future data centers and require monitoring/reporting on facilities already approved or operating, including SVY03A ([hayward-ca.gov](https://www.hayward-ca.gov/discover/news/aug26/hayward-council-consider-move-ban-data-centers-its-sept-15-meeting)). This update points the petition at that actual vehicle instead of an ask the City legally cannot deliver.
Update, Sept. 16, 2026: On September 15, the Hayward City Council stopped short of adopting the outright data center ban that had been proposed, and instead directed staff to return in late October with a proposed moratorium on new data centers while the City studies the impacts. That's real progress, not the finish line — a permanent ban and binding oversight of the SVY03A facility already operating here still require more Council action. We've updated our ask below to reflect exactly where things stand and to keep the pressure on through the October vote.**
Sign now: Prevent STACKS SVY03A Data Center from harming the environment
76.6 MW, 28 diesel generators, zero City Council vote
2 minutes to protect Hayward's water and power grid, please sign this petition
Body:
Dear Hayward Residents,
A massive data center is being built at 26062 Eden Landing Road — 310,000 square feet, 76.6 megawatts of capacity (enough to power roughly 76,000 homes), and 28 diesel backup generators, sited close to our neighborhoods and the Eden Landing shoreline.
Here's the part that should concern everyone: this project was approved by the Planning Commission in 2025 without a single City Council vote, through a zoning loophole. The City has since admitted the process was flawed and rewrote its own rules so that any future data center over 50 MW must go before the elected Council. SVY03A is well over that threshold — but it already got through under the old rules; SVY03A got a lightweight environmental review with no binding public reporting (they got a Mitigated Negative Declaration, not a full, Environmental Impact Report despite a local conservation group, Mission Peak Conservation, asking the state to require a full EIR but was turned down).
We're not asking the City to relitigate a fight the law says is over. Here's where things stand instead: at its September 15, 2026 meeting, the Hayward City Council stopped short of adopting the outright ban that three Council members had proposed, and directed staff to come back in late October 2026 with a proposed moratorium on new data-center development while the City studies water, energy, noise, and ratepayer impacts. That is real movement — but it only pauses future projects, and a permanent ban still requires further study, Planning Commission review, and a separate Council vote. It does not, on its own, deliver binding oversight of SVY03A, which is already built and operating. This petition asks the Council to follow through on that process and apply it — with real teeth — to the facility already running in our community, not just to future ones.Sign to demand real oversight of STACK SVY03A now, demand transparency, attach monitoring and enforcement conditions, and a permanent ban on all future data centers.
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We plan to deliver these signatures in person at the next City Council meeting. If you know neighbors who'd want to sign, please forward this email or share the link directly — every signature helps.
Thanks for standing up for our community,
Hayward Residents Against SVY03A
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
Hayward City Council; California Energy Commission (Docket 23-SPPE-01); CA State Senator Aisha Wahab
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned residents of Hayward, call on the Hayward City Council to impose binding, independently verified monitoring, public reporting, and real enforcement on the STACK Infrastructure SVY03A Data Center Campus at 26062 Eden Landing Road — and on every other data center already approved or operating in Hayward — while the Council still has the chance to attach these conditions.
An environmental review was conducted — a Mitigated Negative Declaration, prepared by the California Energy Commission because STACK sought a Small Power Plant Exemption, which made the CEC (not the City) the CEQA lead agency. The CEC adopted that MND and granted the exemption in May 2025. A local conservation group, Mission Peak, formally urged the CEC to require a full Environmental Impact Report instead, a request the Commission did not adopt. The 30-day legal window to challenge that decision in court has since closed, and City officials have publicly confirmed that forcing a full EIR at this point would expose Hayward to a lawsuit it would likely lose under California’s vested-rights doctrine (Mercury News).
We are not asking the City to relitigate a fight the law says is over.
Hayward just stopped short of banning new data centers and instead ordered a study, with a moratorium vote expected in late October. The 76.6 MW SVY03A facility on Eden Landing Road is already running with no binding public reporting. Sign to demand real oversight of SVY03A now, and a permanent ban on the next one.
Separately, the Hayward Planning Commission approved this 310,000-square-foot facility in May 2025 without ever bringing it before the elected City Council — a decision made possible only by a zoning loophole the City has since admitted was a mistake by rewriting its own rules to require Council review for any future data center over 50 megawatts. SVY03A itself, at 76.6 megawatts, would never be approved administratively under the City’s own new standard. We believe that same scrutiny should apply to any future expansion, added generator, or capacity increase at this facility.
Our concerns:
1. Water: Industrial-scale cooling and wastewater discharge in a region already facing water stress, with no public accounting of the facility’s draw on local supply — CEC filings show the project may discharge up to 56,800 gallons of wastewater per day.
2. Power grid strain: Electrical capacity equivalent to powering roughly 76,000 homes, drawn by a single private facility.
3. Diesel emissions: 28 backup diesel generators sited near residential neighborhoods and the Eden Landing shoreline/estuary, with real air quality consequences.
4. Noise, heat, and traffic from 24/7 industrial operation in a community setting.
5. Process: Approval granted with minimal public notice and no City Council vote on a project of this scale.
We are asking for:
1. Legally binding, independently verified public reporting of SVY03A’s actual water, wastewater, and energy use — including peak-day figures, not just annual averages — audited by a City-selected third party, not self-reported by STACK.
2. A full City Council hearing and public vote before any future expansion, added generator, or capacity increase at SVY03A, applying the same 50 MW review standard the City now requires for new projects.
3. Real enforcement: a defined, escalating penalty schedule for noncompliance or underreporting, and a public complaint portal for noise, odor, and emissions concerns.
4. The same monitoring, reporting, and enforcement standard applied to every data center already approved or operating in Hayward — not SVY03A alone.
5. Adoption of a permanent ban on new hyperscale data center development in Hayward.
Thank you for your time. We urge you to use your leadership and commitment to protect Hayward's residential community as well as its ecological and natural heritage.
Sourcing for the claims above:
• CEC Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration, explaining the SPPE process and CEC’s role as CEQA lead agency: efiling.energy.ca.gov, TN 262298
• CEC Order No. 25-0508-11 adopting the Final IS/MND and granting the SPPE, May 8, 2025: energy.ca.gov
• Local conservation group’s comment letter urging the CEC to require a full EIR instead of an MND, March 26, 2025: efiling.energy.ca.gov, TN 262374
• CEQAnet Notice of Determination for SVY03A, posted May 15, 2025 (starts the 30-day CEQA statute of limitations): ceqanet.lci.ca.gov
• Mercury News reporting on Hayward’s zoning rewrite and Mayor Pro Tem George Syrop’s comments on litigation/vested-rights risk: mercurynews.com
• City of Hayward announcement of the Sept. 15, 2026 Council referral to ban future data centers and require monitoring/reporting on existing ones: hayward-ca.gov
• Hayward Planning Commission staff report certifying the IS/MND and approving the site plan/permit, May 22, 2025: hayward.legistar.com
• City of Hayward’s Data Center Development Applications page (confirms 76.6 MW capacity, CEQA review requirement, 50 MW Council-review threshold): hayward-ca.gov