Data Centres in York Region: Assessing Impact & Infrastructure Needs
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
As your Councillor, my responsibility is to ask questions before problems develop. At the July 8 Committee of the Whole meeting I will be introducing a motion asking York Region to complete an Infrastructure Capacity and Growth Readiness Assessment.
This motion is about responsible planning, protecting taxpayers, supporting future housing and employment growth, and making sure Richmond Hill has the infrastructure it needs for decades to come.
Good planning starts with good information. That's exactly what this motion is intended to provide.
York Region is becoming one of Ontario's largest data centre hubs. Today, there are at least 6 operational data centres, 4 under construction, and another 3 proposed or planned across the Region. Industry estimates suggest data centres in York Region could require more than 500 MW of electrical capacity over the next decade.
Urbacon currently has three data centres operating in Richmond Hill, one more under construction, and two additional facilities already approved. The approved sites date back to 2017 and are located within the Barker Digital Campus off Leslie Street.
There is also a site plan application for a new 350,000 square foot data centre in Richmond Hill in the Leslie/Orlando area. This proposal illustrates exactly why this assessment is needed. According to the applicant's own servicing report, the facility is expected to use approximately 2.4 million litres of water every day, primarily for cooling. That's equivalent to the daily water use of more than 10,000 residents, or about 4,300 households.
When this proposal is added to the other known and planned data centres across York Region, the estimated water demand rises to nearly 22 million litres per day, or about 8 billion litres annually. That's roughly the same amount of water used each day by almost 100,000 residents, or about 40,000 households.
At the same time, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has already identified the need for significant new electricity infrastructure in York Region to accommodate anticipated growth. The electricity demand forecast for York Region shows significant growth over the planning horizon, driven by residential intensification, commercial development (including large energy-intensive customers like data centers), and electrification trends (such as electric vehicles and heat pumps).
Data centres are essential to our digital economy, supporting everything from artificial intelligence and cloud computing to banking, healthcare and online services. But they also require significant infrastructure, particularly electricity, water and wastewater.
My motion does **not** oppose data centres. It asks a simple but important question:
**Has York Region fully accounted for the combined impact of all these facilities when planning future infrastructure?**
York Region is responsible for long-term planning of major infrastructure such as water, wastewater, transportation and growth management. Richmond Hill relies on those plans when planning new neighbourhoods, housing and employment growth.
If the cumulative demand from data centres has not been fully incorporated into Regional planning, it could result in infrastructure reaching capacity sooner than expected, more costly upgrades, delays in supporting future growth, or higher costs for municipalities and taxpayers.
My motion asks York Region to prepare an **Infrastructure Capacity and Growth Readiness Assessment** that would:
inventory all existing, approved, under construction and anticipated data centres
determine whether their infrastructure needs have been incorporated into long-term planning
assess whether planned infrastructure can support both future data centres and future housing and employment growth
identify any infrastructure gaps and recommend improved coordination with utilities and provincial agencies.
This is about responsible planning.
As Richmond Hill and York Region continue to grow, we need to ensure our infrastructure keeps pace with every type of development. Good decisions start with good information, and this assessment will help ensure we are planning for tomorrow, not reacting after problems arise.
