Council Weighs Data-Center Zoning, Water and Power Concerns as State Rules Limit Local Controls
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Summary
Public commenters and staff debated draft zoning language for data centers; staff and PSO/AEP warned state statute constrains local limits while council members raised concerns about water use, grid capacity and community impacts.
Lawton's City Council spent an extended portion of its Feb. 11 meeting discussing draft zoning and utility implications for proposed data centers, hearing concerns from a resident and presentations from city staff and PSO/AEP about the scale and local effects of large data facilities.
Local commenter Mark (Gibson) urged the city to close a "permitted use" loophole that could allow 24/7 data centers in industrial zones without council review and to add performance standards for water use, sound attenuation, demolition bonding and developer-funded infrastructure. "Data centers are 24/7, 365 operation characteristics that are fundamentally different from the light industrial activities I-1 districts are intended for," he said, asking the council to require review and site/build plans for all data centers.
City planning and economic development staff, represented by Rich Rogalski, traced the issues to state law. Rogalski noted Oklahoma statutory language (described in the meeting as Title 71A, Section 102, Oklahoma Statutes) that requires certain data-asset-mining and data-center uses to be allowed in industrial zones and limits the imposition of special sound or other requirements beyond existing industrial standards. "So the state took that right out of our hands," Rogalski said; he recommended local tools the city can use, including will-serve letters for water and power, and suggested the council could lower the permitted megawatt threshold to 1 MW or require permit-on-review for larger facilities.
Council members focused on two operational constraints: water and electricity. Rogalski and later PSO/AEP representative Mike (Hixson) explained the city has multiple water sources including potable surface-water plants (combined capacity cited in the presentation), raw-water pipeline access and approximately 11 million gallons per day of effluent (reclaimed) water; Rogalski said reclaimed water is already sold to PSO and the city must weigh reuse decisions. Rogalski said a 5-megawatt data center might demand 5,000 to 25,000 gallons per day while a 100-megawatt installation could require up to 1 million gallons per day, which could stress local supplies.
PSO/AEP told council that new large customers must meet upfront collateral and minimum billing requirements and that the utility plans generation and transmission upgrades to protect reliability. "PSO only reserves capacity for committed projects and adds new customers at a pace that protects reliability," an AEP/PSO presenter said, outlining that new large-load customers pay infrastructure-specific costs and that rate changes are subject to Oklahoma Corporation Commission review.
Why it matters: Data centers can bring substantial capital investment but generally create few permanent local jobs and can impose large water and power demands. City staff advised using utility permitting and annexation decisions to preserve municipal control where possible.
Next steps: The draft code will return to council at the next meeting for further discussion; staff recommended additional research and possible floor amendments. Council asked staff to bring back revisions and to obtain technical input on water rights and the existing aquifer protections before making final zoning changes.
