Mayor urges clearer definition of 'data center' and planning code work after council moratorium

Mayor William Judge used his report to tell the council he supports defining 'data center' more precisely following a moratorium the council approved the previous week. Judge said the city had an example of a 12,000-square-foot facility that housed servers for multiple companies but used little power, and that the term 'data center' covers a wide range of facility types.

Planning, Annexation and Codes Chair Mister Heidey said the city’s development code is expected to go before the Planning Commission on Wednesday and that the commission may hold a work session in December and then recommend the code to council. He and other councilors warned that if the council inserts ad hoc definitions while the broader code rewrite is in progress it could create timing and legislative complications; the planning director said the development-code project has been delayed and new code provisions may not be available until midyear, and that adding a stand-alone definition now could push the work into the next legislative session.

Councilors suggested the planning commission research appropriate size thresholds and buffer distances for data centers and that any eventual definition be integrated into the new development code. The mayor and councilors said they expect further planning-commission work and potential amendments to the development code before the council adopts permanent standards.

Ending note: staff and councilors agreed on the need for a clearer definition but did not adopt a new definition at the Nov. 17 meeting; the matter remains in the planning-code work plan.