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Planning staff outlines zoning amendments including battery storage rules and bans on data centers, small modular nuclear reactors
Summary
Planning staff presented ordinance 20 26 dash 15, which would clarify setbacks and lot-line diagrams, add schools to industrial/mineral zones per state statute, define battery energy storage systems with BZA review conditions, and explicitly exclude data centers and small modular nuclear reactors from permitted uses and the major-utility definition; staff suggested scheduling a hearing on May 14.
Monroe County planning staff presented a summary of proposed amendments in ordinance 20 26 dash 15 that would update zoning definitions, permitted uses and review procedures.
Miss Bierman, assistant director and acting director of the Planning Department, told commissioners the packet contains a set of substantive text amendments and described the principal changes. Among them: clarifying how front setbacks and lot-line determinations are measured (including an illustrative diagram for staff use); adding schools to the use table in industrial and mineral-extraction zones to comply with state statute; adding a definition for battery energy storage systems (BESS) and attaching conditions for that use, with BESS projects required to proceed to the board of zoning appeals for approval; and clarifying the expenses section to confirm payment for plan commission board members.
Miss Bierman also said the draft explicitly states that data centers are not a permitted use in Monroe County and that small modular nuclear reactors are not permitted in the county, language she described as a response to recent state legislation. “We are stating that data center is not a permitted use in Monroe County, we also are stating that small modular nuclear reactors are not permitted in the county,” she said. She added the county is defining major utilities and excluding small modular nuclear reactors and battery energy storage systems from that definition because those uses are defined elsewhere in the ordinance.
Staff described an alternative-transportation map used to determine whether sidewalks or road improvements are required for subdivisions or commercial developments; the draft would limit required improvements to high-priority projects and scale back requirements for moderate-priority items pending a stronger alternative-transportation plan.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions and discussed scheduling. Miss Bierman said she may be unavailable the following week and requested the earliest feasible hearing date; commissioners agreed to aim for May 14.
What’s next: Staff will bring the ordinance forward for formal consideration at a future meeting (staff recommended May 14 if scheduling allows). The transcript does not record a formal vote on ordinance 20 26 dash 15 at the work session.
