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Norton planning commission weighs tighter zoning controls for data centers
Summary
Commissioners discussed confining data centers to I-2 industrial districts and requiring conditional-use review, citing noise, water and power concerns; the chair will draft a short I-2 supplement and circulate it ahead of the next meeting.
The Norton Planning Commission on March 24, 2026 spent the bulk of its session discussing how the city should regulate proposed data centers, with members generally favoring placing such facilities in I-2 industrial districts and subjecting them to conditional-use review.
The chair said he reviewed the earlier PPG proposal and found it had “complied with all the requirements of that area,” but recommended stronger local controls. “On-site generation and closed-loop cooling systems and trying to put everything inside the building for noise control were really great ideas,” the chair said, urging standards that encourage those features.
Commissioner (Speaker 2) advocated explicitly for an I-2 designation and a conditional-use permit to ensure city…
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