Planning Commission backs Technology Flex R&D zoning, flags data-center safeguards

The Greene County Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval of an ordinance creating a Technology Flex Research & Development (TFRD) zoning district (OR 24-001). The proposed district is intended to attract high-tech enterprises — including information technology, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology — to growth-area parcels in the county’s future land-use map. Commissioners asked staff to move the draft definitions into the countywide definitions chapter and to correct a typographical height-limit reference before the item goes to the Board of Supervisors.

Planning staff said the district is designed for high-tech businesses that need a hybrid setting between conventional commercial and heavy industrial uses. The draft ordinance includes performance standards for landscaping, equipment screening, building façades, open space and delivery hours. Staff told the commission they also added a provision to allow a reduction in minimum parking in exchange for an approved parking-impact study, to avoid excessive impervious surface for low-employee high-technology uses.

The TFRD discussion shifted quickly to data centers. Staff emphasized that the draft district is not a data-center zoning carve-out; instead, the draft allows data centers only by special-use permit and only when sited within the growth area. "We're not doing that — we're actually limiting data centers to a possible criteria that would have to be reviewed by the Board of Supervisors," Planning staff said. Commissioners and members of the public urged additional guardrails for any future data-center applications.

Public commenters raised infrastructure and environmental concerns. Martha Ledford said she supports the TFRD concept but asked for clear minimum standards for data centers, including rules for cooling systems, projected energy use and requirements for police and fire training. Polly Callahan urged strict protections for water and power, noted potential noise from backup diesel generators and warned that local governments can become economically dependent on short-lived projects. "The noise that the data centers produce are commonly reaching 90 decibels," Callahan said, adding concern about fuel storage for generators and the strain on local emergency services.

Commissioners discussed the trade-offs between writing detailed, technology-specific performance standards now versus preserving flexibility to respond to rapidly changing engineering practices. Several members noted that prescriptive performance standards can become obsolete as technology evolves; they favored retaining the special-use permit route so the county can require up-to-date mitigation measures when an application arrives.

The commission asked staff to: relocate the new definitions to the county’s general definitions chapter (chapter 22); correct a typographical error in height-yard language; and retain data centers as uses that require a special-use permit so any such proposal would undergo a full public review and could be conditioned on the latest technical standards. On a motion to recommend approval of OR 24-001 with those modifications, the commission voted 5-0 to send the ordinance to the Board of Supervisors.

What happens next: staff will incorporate the recommended edits (move definitions to chapter 22 and fix the typo), update numbering so the new district fits within the zoning code, and forward the revised ordinance and commission recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for final action. If a data-center application appears later, it will require a separate public hearing and special-use review where the county can impose conditions addressing water use, noise, fuel storage and other protections.