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Provo creates data-center overlay zone, removes broad permitted status from multiple zones
Summary
The council unanimously approved ordinances removing data centers as a broadly permitted use and creating a new data-center overlay zone that will restrict where data centers may locate and require application-specific reviews, including consultant review for larger facilities.
The Provo City Council adopted two ordinances, passed unanimously 7-0, that (1) remove data centers as allowed uses across many zoning districts and (2) create a new data-center overlay zone (Chapter 14.34A) that would allow data centers only after a targeted rezoning and public hearing. The measures are intended to concentrate potential data-center development in industrial areas and to provide a detailed review path for facilities that can vary substantially in energy, water and infrastructure demands.
City planner Hannah Salts said the change is a 'cleanup' step creating a discrete overlay that can be applied only in certain industrial zones (M-1 and PC were noted) and that each application would require a full rezone process, public hearings before planning commission and council, and substantial documentation from applicants. The ordinance does not generally prescribe single numeric limits for many technical factors because data-center technologies and operating models vary; instead it requires applicants to document energy and water consumption, noise, emissions, wastewater and contamination mitigation, heat recovery options, local grid impacts and resilience strategies.
The ordinance includes a provision that applications above a defined threshold (the draft cites 5 megawatts in staff discussion) must pay for a third-party consultant so the city can access technical expertise it does not retain in-house. Council members and staff said the overlay would allow the city to require site-appropriate mitigations, conditional requirements and community benefits in exchange for rezoning approvals.
The council and staff also discussed renewable-energy signals, backup-power implications and how state law affects on-site renewable generation and battery backup requirements. Council members suggested the policy remain flexible to encourage renewable procurement or community investments tied to energy impacts; staff said additional renewable or reinvestment mechanisms could be explored and coordinated with Provo Power and regional partners.
Both the ordinance removing data centers from multiple base zones and the ordinance creating the overlay passed by unanimous vote. The city manager and planning staff said the overlay will be the subject of application review if and when developers seek data-center rezoning; no specific project was approved at the meeting.
