ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Director of Community Development with a Request to Concur with the Planning & Zoning Commission and Staff to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Amending Appendix A of the Unified Development Code, Relating to DATA CENTERS.
Body
BACKGROUND:
An amendment to Appendix A of the Unified Development Code (UDC) is proposed to allow Data Centers by special use in the industrial and institutional zoning districts.
Types of data centers include: server farms, web hosting, cluster computing, cloud storage, colocation centers, and cryptocurrency mining. Data centers can have large or small footprints, but all data centers are heavy users of electricity and water, produce high-frequency noise, operate 24/7, and require little to no on-site customers. For these reasons, data centers are not appropriate for commercial districts and are more suited for the industrial districts. The C-2 (Large Scale Commercial) district's intent is for commerce that generates foot traffic and supports existing retail. This ordinance includes performance standards on noise, building construction and recommends the data centers by special use in industrial and institutional districts. Through special use review staff may consider the compatibility with neighboring land uses and the need for special design considerations. The proposed text amendment regulates data centers as a principal use. Uses that include associated components of a data center as ancillary to the principal use on the property shall not be considered a data center.
The proposed text amendment recommends the following:
Use
Form Districts
Permitted Zoning Districts
Special Use Zoning Districts
Data Center
None
None
I-1, I-2, I-3, and N-1
The Planning & Zoning Commission in case PZ-950-2022 voted 5-0 to approve the proposed text amendment.
See the attached Planning & Zoning Commission case packet and meeting minutes for more detailed information.
FINANCIAL IMPACT...
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