Toolkit put together by Grace Peng, gspeng.lwv@gmail.com
Send comments to planning director: eschonborn@elsegundo.org
And cc allelectedofficials@elsegundo.org
The Facts
El Segundo Planning Commission is holding a public hearing about a data center project at 750 Nash.
7/9/26 5:30-9:00
Item 3:
Environmental Assessment No. EA-1400, Site Plan Review No. SPR 25-04, and Development Agreement No. 26-01 for the Construction and Operation of a New Five-Story 230,780 Square Foot Data Center and 66/12- Kilovolt (KV) Electric Substation Serving the New Data Center
The 425 page Agenda Packet is at https://www.elsegundo.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/13166/639186128943530000
Item B.3. starts on page 94/425 and it includes several reports (which are numbered separately). All page numbers in this toolkit reference the whole packet, not the numbering of the sub-reports.
The Planning Commission can either Adopt Resolution No 2979 approving the Environmental Assessment (so that the legal pathway for the data center can continue) or take another action (e.g. deny based upon some legally defensible reason.)
On July 3, 2025, Eight Form, a Delaware Limited Liability Company filed an application to demolish an existing hotel (i.e., Hyatt Place), and in its place construct and operate a new five-story (up to 169 feet) 230,780 gross square foot data center, and a 66/12- kilovolt (kV) electrical substation that would serve the new data center located at 750 North Nash Street. The requested entitlements include a Site Plan Review (SPR 25-04) for the construction of the 230,780 square foot data center, and a 66/12-kilovolt (kV) electrical substation, Development Agreement No. 26-01 and EA-1400 is required to ensure the project complies with the certified Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
In 2002, El Segundo City Council (ESCC) certified the El Segundo Corporate Campus Specific Plan (CCSP) Project Environmental Impact Report and filed it with the state of CA. The CCSP allowed a mix of uses, including offices, R&D, hotels, retail, an Electrical Co-Generation Station, and Telecommunications/Web Hosting/Internet Data Centers.
The CCSP already cleared environmental review, which means the expected pollution and other impacts of those allowed uses and intensity are allowed. The proposed Data Center exploits that earlier environmental clearance.
Table 3-6 shows 2002 approved development capacity and the remaining capacity.
A legally defensible reason for denial is that this 230,780 Data Center exceeds the 57,710 square feet (SF) of remaining development capacity for Data Center use (step 1 below).
Section 3.8 on page 150 explains the Agreements, Permits and Approvals needed to construct and operate the Data Center. If El Segundo approves and decides to let the project proceed, then lobby CPUC/CEC and SCAQMD (steps 2 and 3.)
- Site Plan Review No. SPR 25-04 and associated building permits, issued by the City of El Segundo
- License to Construct, issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)/California Energy Commission (CEC)
- Permit to Construct (Rule 201, before installation) and Permit to Operate (Rule 203, after construction and startup, issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)
The CEQA Checklist is in Section 4.0, starting on Page 152. Only these factors need to be considered and the new use must be the same or less impact than existing uses. The closed loop water cooling system of the data center is expected to use less water than the hotel that it replaces (laundry.)
This project is vulnerable on Air Quality grounds. The 16 diesel backup generators will fire up occasionally for routine maintenance and during power outages. This will generate significant air pollution.
However, Eight Form claims that the diesel backup generators are expected to produce fewer pollutants than the already environmentally-cleared Co-Gen plant that was never built. I am not a CEQA specialist so I don’t know if this will fly with SCAQMD. However, this is a good point to press with the City of El Segundo, either at the Planning Commission or at City Council.
The City of El Segundo created this vulnerability by zoning for a gas power plant in this area. It’s reasonable to ask why they did this in 2002 and allowed it to continue to persist in their CCSP.
There will be noise, vibration and dust nuisances and traffic impacts during the 2 year construction period, but that is typical for any construction project and they can be mitigated. IMHO, there are better arguments to make.
Noise is another issue that Eight Form claims can be mitigated to less than significant impact. But, by their own admission, the rooftop chillers will be operating 24/7, producing noise of 75 decibels (dBA). The Transformers of the required new substation will produce 85.2 dBA.
The generators will be inside, which mitigates their noise. The rooftop chillers and the transformers will be outside.
Eight Form performed sound studies (only 24 hours at 2 sites and 15 minutes at 3 sites) that showed ambient noise of existing uses ranges between 46.0 and 83.8 dBA with an average of 54.4 to 66.0 dBA between the 5 sampled sites. 3 of the sites were sampled only during mid-morning, when traffic and traffic noise is generally lighter.
Decibels are a logarithmic power scale. Going from 65 dBA to 85 dBA is 100 times the power and 10 times the amplitude (amplitude is roughly how we experience loudness).
The ambient noise in this area mainly comes from vehicle traffic. The faster the vehicle traffic, the louder the noise. It is reasonable to ask why the city allowed such high speeds and ambient noise in the first place. It is also reasonable to ask for a more comprehensive sound study that measures over a longer period.
CEQA denials can only be based on things in the CEQA checklist. The Urban Heat Island Impact of the 29 water chillers (air conditioning) for the data center cannot be a reason for denial. But, it’s an argument that can be raised to urge the city to deny the development permit on zoning grounds.
CEQA also does not deal with power quality. But there is a great deal of evidence that the closer you are to a large data center, the more it degrades your electricity quality through lineshape distortion. This damages your household appliances and electronics.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/are-data-centers-to-blame-for-power-quality-issues/
https://www.raritan.com/landing/data-center-pain-points-white-paper/thanks
2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report
If you have access to bloomberg.com at school or work, can you give me a gift link to the first article or a pdf of it? There are fantastic graphics in it.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphic/2024-ai-power-home-appliances/
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-ai-data-centers-power-grids/
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-ai-data-centers-electricity-prices/
Other open access papers about data center load growth.
LLNL paper about data center energy use growth.
2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report https://escholarship.org/uc/item/32d6m0d1
https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/what-will-data-centers-do-to-your-electric-bill/
https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/04/14/can-data-centers-flex-their-power-demand/
SCE has written a Will Serve Letter (page 380 of the 425 page Agenda Packet), and the EIR references SCE correspondence in Appendix 5.16-3, but that isn’t included in the Agenda Packet. Without the correspondence, I don’t know where SCE plans to procure the electricity to serve the data center and what environmental impact that will have elsewhere. The electricity source has to exist for SCE to write the Will Serve Letter.
In Closing
The CCSP and existing traffic conditions created the opening for Eight Form to come in and propose a data center with 16 diesel generators. Changing the CCSP and traffic calming throughout your city can make you less vulnerable to other applicants proposing polluting uses.
Legal Arguments
Your strongest legal argument is Zoning.
Noise is a medium strength argument that can be used for delay.
Environmental Arguments
- Noise
- Heat
- Air Pollution including Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Electricity Quality Degradation (the batteries may be for mitigating this problem)
Moral Arguments
Who is Eight Form and what are the potential users and uses of this data center?
Why are they hiding behind a Delaware LLC?
Action
Send correspondence to ES Planning Mgr: Eduardo Shonborn eshonborn@elsegundo.org
Reference Public Hearing for EA-1400
Cc allelectedofficials@elsegundo.org
Get letters in before planning commission meeting on Thursday July 9 or make public comment in person.
You can also comment on non-agenda items at El Segundo City Council.
Apply Political Heat.
YIMBY Argument
This site is SB 79 eligible because it is next to a train station—a great site for housing that lowers regional VMT because it is next to jobs, high quality transit and a school.
Living by high-quality public transit is a public benefit. El Segundo has few single-level homes built after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed. By approving this data center on a 2+ acre parcel next to a train station, they are not just using up the housing development potential for new accessible homes, they are degrading the environment and externalizing costs for neighbors—commercial and residential.