Granbury adopts zoning standards for data centers and power generation after public input

Granbury — The Granbury City Council voted 6‑0 on April 7 to adopt Ordinance 26‑14, amending zoning Ordinance Articles 4 and 12 to add formal definitions and Supplemental Standard 43 governing data centers and power generation.

City staff and the economic development director said the change is intended to be proactive. Cody Nolan, the city’s director of community development, told the Planning & Zoning Commission that the amendment adds land‑use definitions, lists where those uses are permitted in industrial districts, and establishes supplemental standards addressing sound, height, visual buffers, battery storage, construction management, traffic plans and night‑sky light protections. "Staff recommends approval of the zoning ordinance amendments," Nolan said.

Hopkins, the city’s director of economic development, said the change is not the approval of a project but an effort "to be proactive instead of reactive" so the city will have standards in place if mission‑critical infrastructure is proposed. He said residents raised concerns about noise, water usage, traffic, air quality and visual impacts, and staff sought to reflect those concerns in the draft standards.

Residents who spoke during the public hearing urged the council to add clearer enforcement language and numeric limits. "Don't rush — get this right," Shannon Wolf told the council, calling for stronger safeguards and for the public record to include references so citizens can review technical materials. Multiple speakers asked for enforceable decibel standards, limits on site coverage, tighter timelines for replacing dead vegetation in buffers, and explicit penalties for noncompliance.

The Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval before the council vote. After hearing public testimony and some commissioners' requests to tighten specific phrases, the council approved the ordinance. City staff said other sections of the code and enforcement mechanisms elsewhere in the zoning ordinance will be used to implement and enforce the new supplemental standard.

What happens next: The ordinance establishes the standards the city will use to evaluate future applications for data centers and power generation in the industrial district. City staff told the council they expect to update and refine technical thresholds as specific projects come forward and as technology and state law evolve.