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Council reverses Planning Commission, approves North Virginia data center with conditions after heated public debate
Summary
After hours of public comment and divided testimony, Renos City Council voted unanimously to overturn the January denial by the Planning Commission and grant a conditional use permit for a 5-megawatt data center on North Virginia Street with noise, landscaping, solar and future-effluent-plumbing conditions.
Reno City Council voted unanimously on March 12 to overturn the Planning Commissions earlier denial and grant a conditional use permit allowing a data center to operate 24 hours a day on a 7-acre site along North Virginia Street, but only after the applicant agreed to multiple new conditions responding to council and public concerns.
The decision capped a contentious public hearing that featured more than two dozen speakers, most urging denial or a citywide pause on new data centers pending new standards. Speakers cited concerns about large water demands from evaporative cooling systems, strain on regional electric infrastructure, limited local jobs for the scale of proposed development and long-term environmental impacts.
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