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Whitestown staff previews UDO amendments including data‑center standards; commission asks about PUD workarounds
Summary
Planning staff presented proposed UDO amendments to add a three‑tiered data‑center use category with development‑plan review requirements, updated parking, dumpster and landscaping rules, and monument‑sign standards; commissioners discussed whether PUDs could be used to bypass new standards.
Town planning staff previewed a suite of proposed UDO amendments intended to clarify permitted industrial uses and add standards for emerging uses such as data centers. The draft would categorize data centers into three tiers by square footage (Tier 1 up to ~125,000 sq ft, Tier 2 up to 500,000, Tier 3 above 500,000) and would limit where larger facilities could be sited, require advance development‑plan review of power capacity and utility impacts, and recommend—but not require—sustainability measures such as on‑site renewable energy.
Staff also proposed parking standards keyed to employees for data centers (a minimum of one space per largest shift), clarified outdoor vehicle storage rules, more prescriptive dumpster enclosure opacity standards, foundation planting requirements, and monument sign landscaping. Commissioners asked whether a PUD could be used to introduce data centers despite the new regulations; staff said PUDs can include custom uses but that the Town could add PUD language to default to the UDO where a PUD is silent.
Why it matters: data centers and other large industrial uses can carry substantial demands on electricity, water and road infrastructure; the proposed rules aim to give Whitestown clearer controls up front so the town can evaluate impacts during the development‑plan review rather than at occupancy.
What’s next: staff will refine the draft and return with a voting item in December (or January) for the commission
