Commission presses planning board to finalize ordinance rewrite as data‑center interest grows
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Summary
Commissioners heard a near-final rewrite of land-use ordinances and urged Planning & Zoning to review it quickly, citing potential data-center investment and concerns that delay could shift tax revenue to other counties; counsel said the contract cap was $50,000 and the firm would not bill beyond that amount.
County legal counsel and a consultant told the Mercer County Commission on Feb. 4 that a final or near-final draft of a comprehensive ordinance rewrite had been submitted and was ready for final review by Planning & Zoning.
Speaker 8 and supporting counsel said they had provided a rough and then a final draft last week and asked the commission to identify specific items (setbacks, conditional-use language) to be finalized at the Planning & Zoning meeting scheduled for Feb. 11. "We provided that document last week...we did submit that," Speaker 9 said. Consultant counsel reiterated the firm’s fee cap, saying, "we were very clear that our fees are not going to exceed 50,000...we have no intentions of providing any additional billing." (Speakers 9 and 8).
Several commissioners stressed urgency. Speaker 4 warned that delay could lead developers to locate data centers elsewhere and cost the county "millions of tax dollars": "...the longer we drag this stuff out, the more it's gonna go someplace else," he said. Others noted the product would be refined by Planning & Zoning and that the Keefer Law Firm was available to make additional revisions within the quoted fee cap.
The board agreed to send the drafts to Planning & Zoning for review and to coordinate a joint review if needed. Commissioners also discussed the separate issue of crafting specific ordinances for data centers (setback requirements and conditional-use permits) and recommended a focused review on those topics so the county can provide certainty to prospective industry applicants.
Next steps: Planning & Zoning will receive the submitted draft at its next meeting for detailed review; the commission will consider P&Z recommendations afterward.