Data-center development that involves subdividing or platting land must undergo the Borough’s subdivision review process, which applies to land subdivision and platting within the Borough. (all subdividing and platting of land)

A subdivision application requires a Borough application, supporting documentation, title-company ownership and encumbrance information, and applicable application fees. (completed application, application fee)

All subdivision plats must be based on a survey performed by an Alaska-certified surveyor, and the subdivider must record the approved survey plat with the appropriate land-recording office, creating professional and recording costs. (Alaska State certified surveyor, recorded)

Subdivision plats require substantial preliminary-plat information, including legal descriptions, boundary and lot-line data, existing easements and rights-of-way, adjoining lands, access routes, and a vicinity map. (preliminary plats shall contain)

Each lot shown on a preliminary plat must generally contain at least one acre; variances are available only for case-by-case consideration. (one acre minimum)

Subdivision preliminary plats must be submitted at least 11 business days before a regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting, and the Commission has up to 90 calendar days after acceptance to act. (11 business days prior, 90 calendar days)

After preliminary approval, a final plat is required; the land planner has 45 calendar days to adjudicate it, and failure to act does not result in approval until 90 calendar days have elapsed. (45 calendar days, 90 calendar days)

Preliminary approval expires after two years unless the applicant completes and records the final subdivision plat within that period. (valid for two years)

A subdivision creating five or more lots must construct roads within the subdivision, subject to the Borough’s road-construction standards. (subdividing five or more lots, construct the roads)

Roads, access easements, and rights-of-way must meet specified minimum widths and design requirements; for example, local roads require a 60-foot right-of-way and 20-foot trafficway, while access easements require a 40-foot width. (minimum right-of-way)

Subdivision roads generally may not exceed an eight-percent grade, although the Planning Commission may approve grades up to 15 percent when a registered professional submits a certified plan and profile showing compliance with safety standards. (road grades should not exceed eight percent, 15 percent)

Legal access is a required consideration for plat approval, and intersections with Alaska state-maintained roads require approval from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. (Legal access, approval from the Alaska Department of Transportation)

Road or right-of-way creation or modification generally cannot occur within 15 feet of an existing permanent building or structure unless the applicant obtains a Planning Commission variance demonstrating that safe access will not be impeded and no hazard will result. (within 15 feet, variance permit)

Subdivision-related soils reports and public-improvement certifications must be prepared or supervised and certified by an Alaska-licensed professional engineer. (certified by a registered professional engineer)

Erosion and runoff-control structures must comply with applicable state and federal statutes and regulations. (erosion/runoff control)

The Planning Commission may require utility easements along lot lines or rights-of-way when a utility company demonstrates a specific need. (reservation of utility easements)

Amendments or replats that vacate public rights-of-way, require dedication of a public right-of-way, or create additional lots require platting-authority review, public notice, and a public hearing; petitions must generally be filed at least 50 calendar days before the scheduled meeting. (requires the dedication, 50 calendar days, public hearing)

Vacations of easements or rights-of-way generally require equal or better alternative access, and objections from affected landowners or government agencies can require denial unless resolved. (equal or better access, objections)

For applicable subdivision decisions, applicants have staged appeal rights to the Planning Commission, Borough Assembly, and ultimately the Superior Court, with appeal deadlines of 30, 45, and the applicable court-rule period. (appeal within 30 calendar days, appeal within 45 calendar days)

A communication or utility site of less than one acre may use the short-plat process if it does not require dedication of a public right-of-way, allowing approval by the land planner rather than the full subdivision-plat process.

Short plats may be submitted with an electronic PDF, and the land planner must act within 30 calendar days after accepting the submission; if no action is taken, the preliminary plat is deemed final and approved.

For a qualifying short plat, the final plat is reviewed within 30 calendar days, and it is deemed final and approved if the land planner does not act within that period.

Communication sites and utility sites are not required to have constructed road access.

A subdivision creating four or fewer lots is not required to construct road access to the subdivision boundary, provided the applicant demonstrates that future construction meeting borough standards is practical and economical and discloses the possible limits on public services to buyers.

A remote subdivision may use permanent public air, water, or railroad access instead of road access when no practical road access exists, subject to planning commission findings and notation of the primary access mode on the plat.

The planning commission must reserve utility easements along lot lines or rights-of-way when a utility company demonstrates a specific need.

Utility improvements may cross, pass beneath, or be located within a dedicated public roadway right-of-way when sufficient width remains for required road construction.

The planning commission may approve alternate road designs when terrain, soil, or drainage makes the standard requirements impractical, if supported by an analysis signed and sealed by the applicant's registered professional.

A variance may be granted when strict subdivision requirements would cause substantial hardship because of unusual size, shape, or surrounding conditions, subject to conditions and written reasons from the planning commission.

A recorded utility easement may be vacated or modified through the land-planner amendment process when no public right-of-way is dedicated; a utility company's nonobjection is deemed received if no response is provided within 30 calendar days.

Preliminary approval remains valid for two years, giving the applicant that period to complete and record the final plat.

All Borough-owned land is Unclassified until formally classified, and land must be classified before it can be used.

Borough land cannot be sold, leased, or otherwise disposed of unless it has first been classified, unless another ordinance provides otherwise.

Before a parcel is classified, the Borough Administrator must evaluate the parcel, consult the nearest communities and other interested parties, and recommend a classification to the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission must hold at least two public hearings for each parcel being classified, including one hearing in the community nearest to the parcel.

Land classified as Commercial is suitable for development involving the performance of services, which can provide a land-use category for data-center operations. performance of services

Land classified as Unrestricted has no restrictions imposed by the Denali Borough, although applicable federal and state restrictions may still apply. This protects qualifying data-center land from future Borough restrictions under this classification. no restrictions on land classified unrestricted

Townsite land may include relatively dense commercial development, with lots smaller than one acre permitted when development plans include water and sewer facilities. This can support smaller or clustered data-center sites where those utilities are planned. water and sewer facilities

All land is unrestricted unless a local option zoning district is created by ordinance; within such a district, the adopted restrictions apply uniformly and become effective 30 days after assembly approval.

Local option zoning districts require a petition from the record owners of two-thirds of the parcels in the described area, with each parcel receiving one vote, followed by planning commission and assembly public hearings and assembly approval.

A local option zoning district generally must contain at least 12 contiguous lots; mixed-use and industrial districts may contain at least six lots. A petition requires an adequate legal description, proposed zone standards, a map, and a nonrefundable $300 application fee.

Rezoning, repealing a zone, changing the zone type, or modifying district boundaries requires a petition signed by a majority of property owners in the area, public notice and hearings, planning commission review, assembly approval, and a nonrefundable $300 application fee.

In the single-family residential district, only single-family residential dwelling units are permitted as principal uses, so a data center cannot operate as a principal use there.

In the rural residential district, only single-family and multifamily residential dwelling units of no more than four units are permitted as principal uses, so a data center is not an allowed principal use there.

In the residential conservation district, only single-family and multifamily residential dwelling units of up to two units are permitted as principal uses, so a data center is not an allowed principal use there.

Mixed-use and industrial districts impose minimum lot sizes of 40,000 square feet. Mixed-use districts also require 30-foot front, 20-foot rear, and 15-foot side setbacks; industrial districts require 40-foot front, 20-foot rear, and 25-foot side setbacks.

Industrial districts limit clearing to 75 percent of each lot, require a 30-foot forested buffer from a common drive or roadway, and require a 50-foot forested buffer between the industrial district and other local option zoning districts.

Mixed-use and industrial development must retain existing natural drainage ways. Mixed-use development must retain a 20-foot forested roadway buffer, while industrial development must retain the specified 30-foot roadway buffer.

All local option zoning districts must comply with the conditional land use permit provisions. Where a conditional land use permit is required, the application must include a nonrefundable $200 fee, undergo planning department review, public notice, and a planning commission public hearing, and may be approved subject to continuing conditions.

Conditional land use permits may be revoked after at least 30 days' written notice of a planning commission revocation hearing if the permittee fails to comply with the chapter or applicable conditions.

A pre-existing structure that does not conform may not be altered to increase its nonconformity. If it is damaged or destroyed to at least 50 percent of assessed value, reconstruction must conform unless the reconstruction application is filed within six months and completed within two years.

A nonconforming use must be established legally and operationally before district adoption. It terminates after 365 consecutive days of discontinuance, cannot be increased, intensified, expanded, or moved, and a determination of nonconforming status must be requested within one year of district adoption.

Violations are infractions subject to civil fines, with each day treated as a separate violation. The scheduled fines include $200 for failure to obtain a conditional use permit, and the general maximum fine is $300 per violation.

The borough may issue enforcement orders requiring discontinuation of a use, removal of structures or equipment, restoration, suspension or revocation of an entitlement, or other corrective action; activity contrary to an order must cease until the order is rescinded or written continuation is authorized.

Land use operations must comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, creating an additional operating-compliance requirement for uses within a local option zoning district.

Land is zoned unrestricted unless an ordinance provides otherwise, and the ordinance states that unrestricted land has no prohibitions on use.

The Industrial district expressly permits light and heavy industrial uses and utility or transportation uses, which can accommodate data-center facilities depending on their classification.

The Mixed Use district permits commercial, business, residential, institutional, and public uses, potentially accommodating a data center classified as a commercial or business use.

A conditional land use permit follows a defined process: the planning director must review an application for completeness within 21 days, and the planning commission must hold a public hearing and approve, modify, or deny the application.

Variances may provide relief from the literal application of Title 9 where unusual individualized conditions impose unusually stringent burdens, subject to findings that the variance will not authorize a prohibited use or be based solely on financial hardship or inconvenience.

A use that began before the ordinance's effective date may continue in the same location without being subject to the chapter, provided it is not expanded beyond the smaller of the existing lot, block, or tract lines.

A legally established nonconforming use existing when a local option zoning district is adopted may continue, although it may not be increased, intensified, expanded, relocated, or changed to another nonconforming use.

A legally created undeveloped lot that does not meet the district's dimensional or area requirements may still be used for a use permitted in its district if it existed before the local option zoning district was adopted and complies with all other ordinance requirements.

A pre-existing structure that does not conform to the chapter may continue, and it may be reconstructed after substantial damage if the reconstruction application is filed within six months and the approved reconstruction is completed within two years.