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Commission urged to study zoning for data centers, batteries and other large projects
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Summary
A commissioner briefed the board about regional fights over large data centers and urged the county to consider countywide zoning or model township ordinances to protect residents and infrastructure; commissioners asked staff to gather information and bring the issue back for further discussion.
Commissioner (speaker S10) told the Griggs County Commission that the county should begin preparatory work on zoning for large new developments such as data centers, wind farms, solar installations and battery-storage facilities. He pointed to developments in other North Dakota counties where rapid siting of data centers has produced community conflict and legal fights and said the county should consider model ordinances or a countywide approach rather than leaving each township to act alone.
The commissioner discussed tradeoffs, including reasonable setbacks and protections for fire departments when handling large battery-storage fires. He said drafting usable ordinances would take months and recommended bootstrapping the process by gathering sample ordinances and consulting townships and the Association of Counties.
Commissioners asked staff to gauge constituent interest and to bring recommended next steps to a future meeting; no ordinance or directive was adopted at this meeting.
