Lincoln County planners move to make data centers conditional use after hours of public concern

Lincoln CountyPlanning Commission members voted to recommend an amendment to the county zoning regulations that would reclassify data centers from a permitted use to a conditional use, allowing the county to review applications and impose site-specific conditions while staff completes a broader regulatory update.

Planning staff told the commission the change is intended as a temporary safeguard while the county finalizes more detailed rules. The proposed amendment (AM26-003) would require any prospective data center to undergo a public hearing before the planning commission and the Board of County Commissioners, and to submit studies on water and electricity supply, noise mitigation, emergency response, and decommissioning plans.

The public hearing drew more than a dozen speakers. Concerns clustered around groundwater and surface-water use, potential stress on local electric utilities, and long-term local costs for infrastructure and emergency services. Rick Alcorn, who identified himself as from North Platte, said many planned data centers are proposed for drought-prone rural areas and warned of water and power impacts to households and farms. Multiple residents urged the commission to require closed-loop cooling, caps on annual consumptive water use, and binding community-benefit agreements to cover any public cost for utility upgrades or emergency response equipment.

Representatives from the Natural Resources District (NRD) and planning staff explained regulatory limits. NRD staff said groundwater permitting and transfers are governed at the state and NRD level and noted the commission cannot prevent an applicant from acquiring water rights under state law, though the county could require local measures to avoid harm to neighboring water users. Planning staff and consultants said draft regulations will require consumption studies, provision for third-party review by county-hired engineers where appropriate, and annual reporting of water and electric consumption to the county planning office.

On technical items, commissioners and commenters debated setback distances, noise standards measured at property lines (65 dBA / 75 dBC in the draft), requirements that developers bear costs for transmission or substation upgrades, and stronger decommissioning bonds so taxpayers are not left to remediate abandoned facilities. Staff proposed increasing the decommissioning security and removing a salvage-value deduction from the bond calculation; commissioners signaled support for raising the security percentage.

After listening to comments and line-by-line discussion of draft language (definitions, infrastructure, utility protection, water-cooling limits, setbacks, screening and emergency planning), the commission voted to send the draft back to staff for revisions. Staff will circulate a revised draft to a subcommittee, post it publicly, and bring the amended regulations back for a formal public hearing in August, after which the planning commission will make its recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners.

The planning commission emphasized that no data center application is currently on file with the county and that these rule changes are being made proactively to give the county regulatory tools if an applicant appears. The commission also noted that some matters (water-right transfers, large-scale electrical grid planning) fall under state or utility authority and cannot be resolved through county zoning alone.

The commission closed the item and directed staff to prepare revised wording reflecting the audience's concerns and the commission's edits. The revised draft will be circulated to the public and the planning commission ahead of the August public hearing.