Faulkner County court narrows ordinance language, adds state definitions and noise limits for data centers and digital-asset mining businesses

Faulkner County Quorum Court members voted to approve Ordinance 25-12 as amended, tightening how the county will regulate large computing facilities by adding state-based definitions for digital-asset mining and spelling out noise limits and notice procedures.

The court’s final action replaces a broad reference to “commercial crypto mining facilities” in the county’s data-center definition with the term “digital asset mining business,” and inserts four definitions taken from Act 173 of the 2024 Arkansas legislative session and Arkansas Code §14-1-603. The ordinance as amended also spells out daytime and nighttime sound limits, and narrows how public notice is distributed while requiring filing with the county judge’s and clerk’s offices and a public meeting on a court agenda within a set period.

Why it matters: County officials said the changes aim to give the sheriff’s office and prosecutors workable elements to enforce noise and nuisance complaints while avoiding overly narrow language that could be vulnerable to legal challenge. Supporters said the added state definitions create clearer thresholds (including an energy-use threshold) to distinguish ordinary data centers from facilities built specifically to secure blockchain networks, while opponents warned about the administrative burden of notice requirements and the potential to deter legitimate investment.

The key provisions

Definitions — The court accepted four definitions drawn verbatim from Arkansas law. As read on the floor, the ordinance will include the Arkansas-code language that a “blockchain network” is “a group of computers operating and processing together to execute a consensus mechanism to agree upon and verify data in a digital record,” and that a “digital asset” includes “cryptocurrency, virtual currency, or natively electronic…