Staff warns an overbroad data‑center definition could ban routine server rooms
City staff advised that any ordinance must carefully define data centers by size, cooling method and function to avoid inadvertently banning server rooms at schools, hospitals or utilities. Staff pointed to the comp plan and state law as frameworks that must support any restriction.
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City staff cautioned that a poorly framed definition could sweep in routine institutional server rooms and other benign uses. Jeff told the commission, "So a definition that classifies the thing that you wanna regulate so that it includes the things that you want regulated in the way you want to regulate them and excludes the things that you don't," and urged definitions tied to specific harms (water use, noise, cooling method, size).
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