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Olive Branch planning commission backs zoning changes to regulate data centers after public hearing
Summary
The Planning Commission voted to recommend zoning amendments that would make data centers conditional uses in industrial districts and add strict performance standards — including 55 dB daytime noise limits, tiered setbacks, water‑use reporting, and decommissioning financial assurances — after staff presentation and extensive public comment on noise, water and property‑value impacts.
The Olive Branch Planning Commission voted to send a package of zoning amendments to the Board of Aldermen that would add definitions and performance standards for data centers, restrict smoking near parks and lower permitted freestanding sign heights.
Planning staff told the commission the package is proactive: there are no pending data‑center applications in Olive Branch, but the city needs rules in place if one is proposed. Staff said the proposal would reclassify data centers as conditional uses in the M‑1 (light industrial) and M‑2 (heavy industrial) districts so applications would require public hearings before the Board of Zoning Adjustment rather than being approved administratively.
The draft includes tiered separation distances from protected uses — 500 feet for low‑intensity sites, 1,000 feet for medium, and 2,000 feet for large hyperscale facilities — and a list of protected uses that includes residentially zoned properties, churches, daycares, senior living and parks. Staff also proposed performance standards: a 55 dB(A) daytime limit at adjacent property lines (reduced from the city’s current 75 dB standard), 45 dB at night, a ground‑borne vibration cap of 0.2 in/s peak particle velocity, a water‑use formula (1.8 liters per kilowatt) and quarterly reporting for any facility consuming more than 25,000 gallons per day.
Staff said applications would be required to include a detailed infrastructure plan covering power, water, wastewater and screening; applicants would be responsible for any required power‑system upgrades. Facilities exceeding 50 megawatts of peak load would need to show a documented pathway to at least 40% renewable energy sourcing within five years. To address long‑term liabilities, the draft requires an irrevocable letter of credit sufficient to cover site decommissioning and remediation.
Residents who testified urged tighter protections. "Make them meet both standards," said Emily Herring, who urged the commission to require compliance with both A‑ and C‑weighted noise metrics and to add acoustic barriers and independent engineering review. Ashley Scheid asked for larger setbacks, expanded definitions of residential property, stronger enforcement (including escalating fines and suspension of testing) and real‑time monitoring. Michael Scheid urged reclaimed‑water use, closed‑loop cooling and independent water studies paid for by applicants.
Staff and commissioners debated whether arbitrary numeric setbacks could be sustained in court and agreed to tie notification radii to chosen setback tiers and to clarify applicability to all residentially zoned properties. Commissioners also agreed to change recommended language requiring neighborhood meetings from "highly recommended" to mandatory and to tighten the noise metric "or" into "and" to close a low‑frequency loophole.
Commissioner William Jones moved to forward the package "subject to all changes discussed and agreed upon by the board and staff," the motion passed, and staff said it will revise the draft before presenting it to the Board of Aldermen.
What’s next: Staff will produce revised ordinance language incorporating the commission’s edits and will present the package to the Board of Aldermen for final action.
