(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — Simi Valley has no AI data center on any public agenda, but the idea is now circulating on the Nextdoor App and Facebook Groups. A social media post last week asked neighbors how they would feel about building a huge data facility here, in Simi, and it drew more than a hundred comments before replies were closed. Most of the pushback focused on water, power, noise, and jobs. Those are the same factors developers weigh when they choose where to build.
No plan on file
City agendas, planning materials, and utility records show no proposal for a large AI or hyperscale data center in Simi Valley. Regional news coverage shows none either. There is no named applicant, no parcel, and no Southern California Edison large-load letter on the public record. City documents that mention "data center" have referred to things like police software moving to the cloud.
Simi does have large projects in motion, and none of them involve servers. Hanover Co. is advancing about 200,000 square feet of industrial and logistics space at 903 Quimisa Drive. SteelWave has been pre-screening a Town Center General Plan Amendment that leans the mall district toward high-density housing. Those projects show where the city's open land is headed.
Power comes first
Large AI campuses often want 100 megawatts or more, delivered on a firm timeline at a workable price. Simi sits in Edison territory, where power costs more than in Texas or Northern Virginia. Local circuits already appear in wildfire and Public Safety Power Shutoff planning. No public record shows spare capacity on that scale here.
Power is where most data center projects live or die. A developer needs more than a building site. It needs a utility willing and able to commit that load. Without an Edison filing, a Simi campus does not exist on paper.
Water is the next hurdle
Simi relies on imported Metropolitan Water District supply through Calleguas and Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8. That system already carries drought rules and limits on new connections. Recycled water in town has historically been limited. Any cooling plan would have to prove it does not compete with homes.
Neighbors raised the point directly in the thread. "Plus we don't have the millions of gallons of fresh water it needs," a resident wrote. Some supporters countered that newer centers can recirculate cooling water. That claim would need to hold up on a specific site with a specific design.
The land problem
Hyperscale campuses often need tens to hundreds of flat, connected acres. Simi is largely built out. Its open industrial parcels tend to fit warehouses along the Easy Street, Madera, and Tapo Canyon corridors. The former Santa Susana Field Laboratory site remains under cleanup and a conservation easement.
That leaves smaller options on the table. A midsize colocation site or a small edge facility could fit on a warehouse-sized lot. Those bring far less power demand, and far fewer jobs.
The jobs and tax question
Supporters of the idea pointed to tax revenue and employment. Critics noted that data centers employ few people once construction ends. The thread's top comment argued that promised tax revenue often becomes tax breaks for a billion-dollar company. Another neighbor put it plainly: "Ralphs supermarket will have more staffing than a data center."
Both points carry weight in site negotiations. Cities often weigh property tax gains against incentive packages and small permanent staffs. Any real Simi proposal would face that math in public.
What the region shows
The closest real test played out in Ventura. Global Stack pitched edge computing units, roughly the size of shipping containers, for the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The plan also included a parking garage and a helicopter pad under a non-binding agreement. Opposition grew loud, as Spectrum News reported, and the fairgrounds board moved in mid-September to end the agreement with 30 days' notice.
Across Southern California, cities from Monterey Park to Coachella have banned new data centers. Others have paused approvals. Imperial County, by contrast, has a hyperscale proposal on the public record. That project calls for hundreds of megawatts and a large supply of recycled water.
What it would take
A large project in Simi would need several things at once. It would need deliverable power, enough industrial land, and cooling that spares residential water. It would also need a tenant willing to pay California power prices to sit near Los Angeles. On top of that, it would need a political path through a community that already resists large projects.
What to watch
A real proposal would leave a paper trail before it reached a groundbreaking. It would show up on a City Council or Planning Commission agenda, on CEQAnet, or in an Edison filing. Neighbors who want an early warning can watch those three places.
For now, Simi's data center exists only as a question. The thread showed how most of the town would answer it.