Special regulation applies to new data centers with anticipated electrical demand greater than 10 megawatts and to expansions that increase demand by more than 10 megawatts and require a Site Plan change.

Regulated data centers must obtain approval through a Site Plan application, and substantial modifications or expansions must undergo permitting review before construction.

Site Plan applications must include detailed information on water demand and sources, cooling technology, discharges, stormwater compliance, power capacity and upgrades, noise, emergency access, fire protection, battery storage, and wetlands.

Each Site Plan application requires a non-refundable $50,000 application fee.

Each Site Plan application must include a Will Serve Letter from the electric utility identifying available capacity, required transmission, substation and generation upgrades, and applicable utility agreements or tariffs.

Before filing a Site Plan application, the applicant must hold at least one nearby community meeting, mail notice at least 14 days in advance to property owners within two miles, and submit meeting and response materials to the County.

All diesel backup generators must meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 or equivalent emission standards.

Routine, non-emergency generator testing is limited to Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., excluding federal and state holidays, and scheduled testing requires at least 24 hours' certified-mail notice to residential property owners within 1,000 feet.

Operators must submit annual generator-testing data and emissions reports and must provide a fuel-handling and spill-response plan with the Site Plan application.

Open-loop and once-through cooling systems are prohibited, as are evaporative-only cooling systems that use potable water as the primary cooling medium.

Groundwater from wells may not be used as the primary cooling-water source, except for closed-loop ground-source heat pumps.

A Site Plan application must include an Arkansas professional engineer-certified Water Utilization Report, and design water usage effectiveness may not exceed 0.5 liters per kilowatt-hour at full load.

Cooling-water discharges must meet applicable sewer-district or ADEQ requirements; chemically treated cooling water may not be discharged to surface waters or stormwater systems.

Noise at the receiving property line may not exceed 60 dBA during the daytime or 55 dBA at night for residential property, with separate limits for commercial and industrial property and additional C-weighted limits.

Applicants must submit a pre-construction acoustical study, a post-construction verification study within 90 days after operations begin, and annual acoustical verification studies thereafter.

After a noise violation, the operator must submit a corrective-action plan within 30 days and achieve compliance within 180 days; otherwise, a $50,000 monthly civil penalty applies until compliance.

Routine parking by employees, contractors, vendors, visitors, or delivery vehicles is prohibited on public roads and in public rights-of-way.

Before construction, the applicant must submit a Construction Traffic Mitigation Plan covering haul and access routes, delivery schedules, congestion avoidance, road protection, and traffic controls.

Mechanical and electrical equipment, generators, fuel tanks, substations, transformers, and battery systems must be screened from public view with non-reflective security fencing and maintained screening for the facility's life.

A buffer greater than 100 feet is required along frontage abutting residential property, and at least a 50-foot landscape buffer is required next to non-residential property.

Regulated data center buildings and associated infrastructure must be at least 500 feet from any residential property line, and buildings may occupy no more than 50% of the total lot area.

Before construction, the applicant must coordinate with County Emergency Management, the serving fire department, and other applicable emergency agencies and present an Emergency Management Plan.

Operators must submit annual reports covering noise, generator emissions, actual water and power usage effectiveness, resident complaints and responses, and project progress; they must also designate a community liaison and maintain compliance records.

Any deviation from the ordinance's requirements requires a Planning Board recommendation and approval by the Pulaski County Quorum Court.

Appeals of Planning Board permitting decisions are heard by the Quorum Court.

Existing facilities with an approved Site Plan before the effective date are generally exempt, but future expansions increasing electrical demand by five megawatts or more are subject to the ordinance.

Data centers with anticipated electrical demand of 10 megawatts or less are not classified as Regulated Data Centers and are exempt from the measure’s additional regulated-data-center requirements.

The Planning Department must notify an applicant within two weeks whether its application is complete.

Within 60 days after a Site Plan application is complete, the Planning Department must approve, conditionally approve, deny, or defer it at the applicant’s request.

The Planning Director must approve a Regulated Data Center Site Plan after determining that the ordinance and Code requirements have been satisfied.

Applicants may seek a variance from the ordinance’s requirements, subject to a Planning Board recommendation and Quorum Court approval.

The ordinance does not regulate public utilities subject to the Arkansas Public Service Commission.

Each Site Plan application must include a utility Will Serve Letter identifying available electrical capacity and any required transmission, substation, generation, utility-agreement, or tariff requirements, establishing a process for identifying needed power infrastructure.

Facilities with an approved Site Plan before the ordinance’s effective date are exempt from the new requirements unless they later expand electrical demand by five megawatts or more.

Future expansions of existing data centers that increase electrical demand by less than five megawatts are not covered by the ordinance’s stated retroactivity provision.

Covered data centers and other high-intensity digital infrastructure must file a mandatory Notice of Industrial Impact and Intent (NOII) before receiving County approval. The requirement generally applies at 5 megawatts (MW) of electrical demand or more, 100,000 gallons per day of water use or more, or where continuous operations or significant off-site impacts are involved.

An NOII must be filed at least 90 days before a permit application, utility interconnection, or land disturbance.

The NOII must disclose ownership and control, site details, electrical demand and phasing, utility requirements, water and wastewater demand, traffic, noise, environmental impacts, fire suppression, and emergency medical response impacts.

Applicants must obtain and submit written utility information regarding infrastructure requirements, available capacity, and cost responsibility, or document good-faith efforts to obtain that information.

Filing an NOII triggers County review of electric-grid reliability, water and wastewater impacts, transportation and roads, and fire and medical emergency services.

An applicant must provide information identifying required utility infrastructure, estimated costs, the allocation of costs between the developer and ratepayers, and any special contracts or incentives.

Before approval, the County must make a written finding supported by substantial evidence that the project will not materially subsidize project-specific electric infrastructure through existing ratepayers. If the finding cannot be made, the County must deny the application or require mitigation such as developer funding, reimbursement, or redesign.

The County may condition approval on developer-funded infrastructure, reimbursement agreements, development agreements allocating infrastructure costs, or proof that public ratepayers will not subsidize project-specific facilities.

Approved projects must provide annual compliance certifications for five years after commencement, with material changes reported within 30 days. Noncompliance or material changes may result in permit suspension or revocation.

For Tier 2 projects of 20 to 49.99 MW and Tier 3 projects of 50 MW or more, a public meeting is required. The County must also publish notice on its website within five days and notify property owners within one mile.

No approval may be issued until at least 90 days after the NOII is filed, the County review is complete, and the project complies with the ordinance. The County may shorten the review period only after finding that sufficient information has been provided.

Covered projects are subject to filing fees, escrow deposits, annual monitoring fees, and performance security. The schedule ranges from a $7,500 filing fee, $25,000 escrow deposit, $10,000 annual monitoring fee, and $250,000 performance security for Tier 1 projects to a $35,000 filing fee, $150,000 plus $2,500 per MW escrow deposit, $75,000 plus $1,000 per MW annual monitoring fee, and $1 million performance security for Tier 3 projects.

Violations can result in civil fines, permit denial, suspension or revocation, and injunctive relief. Appendix A specifies penalties of $25,000 plus $5,000 per day for failing to file an NOII, up to $50,000 for misrepresentation, and $10,000 per day for unauthorized development.

The County may require a development agreement as a condition of approval to allocate infrastructure costs and enforce compliance.

The ordinance takes effect immediately under an emergency clause based on the stated risk of large-load facilities reaching utility interconnection or infrastructure commitment without prior County review.

Projects are exempt from the ordinance if, before its effective date, they had executed binding utility interconnection agreements, received final County approvals, or submitted complete interconnection applications that received preliminary utility study acceptance.

The ordinance does not regulate the sale, purchase, lease, or option of land, allowing developers to acquire or control property without those transactions being subject to the ordinance.

Projects are grandfathered if they already have a binding utility interconnection agreement, final County approval, or a complete interconnection application with preliminary utility-study acceptance before the ordinance takes effect.

Applicants may use good-faith estimates based on available utility correspondence, interconnection studies, or engineering assumptions when final infrastructure information is unavailable.

The County’s infrastructure review cannot last longer than reasonably necessary, and the County may shorten the 90-day cooling-off period once sufficient information has been provided.

A project may proceed through mitigation, developer funding, reimbursement, or redesign if the County cannot initially make the required finding that ratepayers will not materially subsidize project-specific electric infrastructure.

Approval conditions may allocate infrastructure costs through developer-funded infrastructure, reimbursement agreements, or development agreements, providing a defined pathway for approval when the developer accepts those costs.

The ordinance does not require disclosure of proprietary or confidential information, allowing applicants to withhold protected business information while submitting enough information for infrastructure review.

The County’s review does not alter, approve, or reject utility rates, tariffs, or service decisions, which remain under the Arkansas Public Service Commission.

Facilities meeting any one of these thresholds—10 MW continuous electrical load, 20 MW aggregate campus load, 100,000 square feet of computing space, 100,000 gallons per day of water demand, or 3 MW of on-site generation—are classified as heavy industrial and may be built or operated only with a conditional use permit (thresholds and permit requirement).

A permit application must include site and development plans; electrical, water, noise, fire, environmental and waste plans; and a decommissioning plan (required application materials).

Permit approval requires findings that infrastructure capacity is adequate or will be provided, impacts are mitigated, the project is compatible with surrounding land uses, and public safety is protected (approval criteria).

Operating standards require noise not to exceed 65 dBA during the day or 55 dBA at night at the property boundary, and a minimum 500-foot setback from residential uses (noise and setback limits).

Applicants must demonstrate a sustainable water supply of at least 100,000 gallons per day, prove grid capacity or fund electrical upgrades, and provide on-site fire-suppression systems (water, electrical, and fire standards).

The ordinance sets a $25,000 base application fee and a minimum $100,000 escrow deposit; it also imposes an annual monitoring fee based on facility scale, with costs reflecting actual administrative and review expenses (fees and cost recovery).

The County may inspect facilities and require annual reports on energy use, water consumption, and compliance status (inspection and reporting).

Violations may lead to stop-work orders, permit suspension or revocation, civil penalties, and recovery of enforcement costs (enforcement measures).

Facilities that fall below all five definition thresholds are not classified as HIDIUs under the ordinance, so they are not subject to its HIDIU conditional-use-permit requirement. The triggers are 10 MW continuous load, 20 MW campus load, 100,000 square feet, 100,000 gallons per day, or 3 MW of on-site generation.

The ordinance limits its own scope to land use and leaves utility rates and services under the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s jurisdiction; this limits county regulation of those utility matters under this ordinance. It does not exempt data centers from state regulation. Utility rates or services

Data centers are regulated as High-Intensity Digital Infrastructure Uses when they meet any threshold of at least 10 megawatts of continuous electrical demand, 100,000 square feet of digital-computing building area, 100,000 gallons per day of average water demand, or 3 megawatts of dedicated on-site generation or battery-storage capacity. Related facilities and phases must be aggregated, and projects may not be structured to evade these thresholds. Section 4.1 thresholds and aggregation rules

Covered data centers are classified as Heavy Industrial Uses and may not be located, constructed, expanded, materially modified, or operated in unincorporated Pulaski County without an effective Conditional Use Permit and all other required County approvals. Meeting minimum standards does not create an entitlement to approval. Heavy-industrial classification and permit requirement

Applicants must complete a preapplication conference and submit extensive project information, including maximum buildout plans, electrical-load data, utility information, water and wastewater plans, noise studies, emergency-response plans, traffic studies, environmental information, a decommissioning plan, financial assurance, and evidence of financial and operational capacity. Application requirements

A complete application is subject to public notice and a Planning Board quasi-judicial hearing, with at least 21 days' notice, newspaper publication, website and site posting, mailed notice to property owners within 2,500 feet, and notice to affected public-service entities and municipalities within five miles. Public-notice requirements

A CUP may be approved only if the applicant proves every required criterion, including adequate infrastructure, land-use compatibility, public health and safety, water and wastewater capacity, transportation, environmental protection, performance-standard compliance, mitigation, cumulative-impact protection, and applicant capability. Failure to establish any one criterion is sufficient grounds for denial. Approval criteria

Construction or operation authorized solely by a CUP is stayed during a timely administrative appeal; no construction, grading, land disturbance, or operation may proceed while the appeal is pending unless a court orders otherwise. Appeal stay

Material modifications require an amended CUP. Triggers include an increase in approved electrical demand of at least the lesser of 10% or 5 megawatts, qualifying increases in computing floor area or water demand, site expansion, added phases or major infrastructure, changes in operational purpose or technology, and other materially increased impacts. Material-modification triggers

Operational noise attributable to a data center may not exceed 65 dBA daytime Leq or 55 dBA nighttime Leq at the nearest property line of a nonindustrial use, unless a stricter condition applies. Baseline and predictive acoustical studies, postconstruction testing, and complaint-based testing may be required. Noise limits and testing

Major data-center components—including buildings, cooling units, substations, transformers, battery systems, generators, and fuel-storage areas—must be at least 500 feet from an existing residential dwelling or residential lot. Greater setbacks and additional buffering may be required. Setback requirement

Before building-permit issuance, the applicant must provide final written verification that water and wastewater providers have capacity. The project must follow approved conservation, drought-curtailment, reuse, discharge, and contingency measures, and unauthorized groundwater withdrawal is prohibited. Water and wastewater requirements

Before operations begin, the permit holder must show that required electrical infrastructure is complete or available. The project must also disclose and control generators, fuel systems, air-related impacts, battery systems, fire hazards, emergency access, and responder requirements. Electrical, generator, battery, and emergency requirements

Data centers must comply with approved construction, traffic, road-use, drainage, stormwater, floodplain, erosion, lighting, spill-prevention, waste, refrigerant, cooling-chemical, transformer-oil, and environmental-management plans. The County may require roadway improvements, haul-route limits, dust and vibration controls, road surveys, repair agreements, and financial security. Construction, transportation, and environmental controls

Before commencing operations, the permit holder must obtain approval of a decommissioning plan and continuously maintain financial assurance equal to 100% of the reasonable estimated cost of decommissioning, stabilization, disposal, remediation, and site restoration. The assurance must be reviewed at least every three years and after specified events. Decommissioning and financial-assurance requirement

Applicants must pay a nonrefundable $25,000 base application fee and an initial application-review escrow of at least $100,000, with possible increases based on project scale, complexity, and review needs. Applicants must also reimburse reasonable, documented, project-specific review costs and replenish the escrow when required. Application fee and escrow

Once a CUP becomes effective, the permit holder must pay an annual monitoring fee and may be required to maintain a separate monitoring escrow for specialized or unusually intensive monitoring. Monitoring fees and escrow

Permit holders must allow reasonable County inspections, submit certified annual compliance reports covering electrical demand, water use, generators, incidents, complaints, compliance testing, financial assurance, and corrective actions, and retain compliance records for at least five years. Inspection, reporting, and records requirements

Violations may result in notices and cure requirements, stop-work or partial-shutdown orders, suspension of activities or the CUP, injunctions, abatement, restoration, recovery against financial security, civil or criminal penalties where authorized, and revocation for repeated or material violations. Emergency orders may take effect immediately when an imminent threat exists. Enforcement and revocation powers

A CUP expires unless substantial construction begins within 24 months after the County Final Administrative Decision, subject to specified tolling. Twelve months of continuous cessation of material construction may support expiration, and 24 months of continuous operational cessation may support an abandonment determination. One extension of up to 12 months may be granted under stated conditions. Permit duration, expiration, and abandonment limits

The ordinance applies to proposed data centers that had not obtained all Final County Approvals before its effective date. Applications, preliminary approvals, utility agreements, studies, expenditures, property acquisition, and site work do not by themselves establish an exemption or vested right. Rules for pending projects and utility milestones

The ordinance contains an emergency clause making it effective immediately upon passage, rather than delaying effectiveness through the ordinary waiting period. Immediate effective date

Facilities below the ordinance’s HIDIU thresholds are not covered by this measure: coverage generally begins at 10 megawatts of continuous electrical demand, 100,000 square feet of digital-computing space, 100,000 gallons per day of water demand, or 3 megawatts of dedicated generation or battery capacity, subject to aggregation rules. the specified thresholds

The measure creates a defined Conditional Use Permit pathway for covered data centers, allowing them to be located, constructed, expanded, materially modified, and operated if the applicant satisfies the listed approval criteria and obtains all required approvals. No HIDIU may be located, constructed, expanded, materially modified, or operated

The ordinance sets procedural deadlines that can make permitting more predictable: the Planning Director generally must determine application completeness within 30 days, and the Planning Board generally must issue a written decision within 45 days after the hearing record closes. The deadlines do not create automatic approval and can be suspended or extended in specified circumstances. Within thirty (30) calendar days after filing

A project that had obtained all Final County Approvals for its specific use, location, scale, capacity, structures, facilities, and phases before the ordinance’s effective date does not have to obtain a new CUP solely because of the ordinance. It may proceed within the scope of those approvals, although later material modifications remain subject to review. shall not be required to obtain a new Conditional Use Permit

The ordinance expressly preserves vested rights established under Arkansas law and states that the measure does not impair them. Filing an application, spending money, acquiring property, or receiving preliminary approval alone does not create a vested right. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to impair a vested right

Routine maintenance, repairs, software changes, and replacement with substantially equivalent equipment that does not materially increase impacts are excluded from the amended-CUP requirement. This allows covered facilities to maintain and update operations without treating every such change as an expansion. Routine maintenance, repair, software changes, and replacement

An approved CUP may remain valid for construction for up to 24 months before substantial construction must begin, and the Planning Board may grant one extension of up to 12 additional months for good-faith progress, circumstances beyond the permit holder’s control, or other good cause, if adverse impacts have not materially increased. may grant one extension not exceeding twelve (12) months

A CUP runs with the land and binds successor owners, lessees, operators, and tenants, allowing an approved facility to be transferred or operated by successors if they assume the permit’s obligations and maintain required insurance and financial assurance. A CUP runs with the land

The ordinance limits County inspection authority to land-use-compliance matters and states that inspections cannot require access to customer data, personal data, proprietary algorithms, cybersecurity credentials, computing content, or unrelated secure systems. shall not require access to customer data

The ordinance expressly says it does not regulate utility rates, tariffs, electric-service contracts, or matters within the exclusive authority of the Arkansas Public Service Commission or another state or federal agency. County review remains limited to land use, development, site operation, and project-specific impacts. It does not regulate utility rates, tariffs, electric service contracts

The ordinance prohibits unlawful discrimination against digital-asset-mining businesses or other protected activity and requires substantially similar impacts to be evaluated under substantially similar standards. Substantially similar impacts shall be evaluated under substantially similar standards

Data centers classified as High-Intensity Digital Infrastructure Uses (HIDIUs) are treated as heavy industrial uses and require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) before they may be located, constructed, expanded, materially modified, or operated in unincorporated Pulaski County.

The ordinance applies when a digital-computing use has a continuous electrical demand of at least 10 megawatts, at least 100,000 square feet of qualifying building area, average water demand of at least 100,000 gallons per day, or at least 3 megawatts of dedicated on-site generation or battery-storage capacity.

Related buildings, parcels, phases, entities, and equipment must be aggregated when commonly owned or controlled, part of a common development plan, sharing material infrastructure, or serving substantially the same purpose; projects may not be structured to avoid the ordinance's thresholds.

Applicants must complete a preapplication conference with the Planning Director before filing for a CUP.

CUP applications must include extensive project information, including maximum buildout plans, electrical and utility studies, water and wastewater plans, acoustical studies, fire and hazardous-material plans, traffic studies, environmental information, compatibility analysis, construction plans, decommissioning plans, financial assurance, and evidence of financial and operational capacity.

The Planning Director may require additional information, and application review is suspended while requested information remains outstanding; an application may be deemed withdrawn after 180 days without a response to a written notice.

A CUP requires public notice and a Planning Board hearing, with at least 21 days' notice, newspaper and website publication, site posting, mailed notice to property owners within 2,500 feet, and notice to affected public-service entities and municipalities within 5 miles.

A CUP may be approved only if the applicant proves every listed criterion, including infrastructure capacity, land-use compatibility, public safety, water and wastewater capacity, transportation, environmental protection, performance-standard compliance, mitigation, cumulative-impact protection, and applicant capability; failure to establish any criterion is grounds for denial.

A CUP does not create an entitlement to approval merely because a project meets numerical performance standards or has utility, state, or federal approvals.

A Planning Board decision may be appealed to the Quorum Court within 30 days by specified affected parties, and a timely appeal stays issuance and exercise of the CUP and generally prevents construction, grading, land disturbance, or operation authorized solely by the appealed CUP.

A HIDIU must maintain operational noise at or below 65 dBA daytime Leq and 55 dBA nighttime Leq at the nearest property line of a nonindustrial use, subject to potentially stricter limits for tonal, low-frequency, impulsive, or sensitive-use impacts.

Each principal building and major operational component, including cooling equipment, substations, transformer yards, batteries, generators, and fuel storage, must be at least 500 feet from an existing residential dwelling or residential lot, unless greater setbacks or other buffering are required.

Generator testing and planned maintenance must occur during approved daytime hours, except during emergencies or when required by law or utility direction.

Before building-permit issuance, the applicant must provide final written verification that water and wastewater capacity is available and must comply with approved conservation, drought, reuse, discharge, cooling, chemical-management, and contingency measures; unauthorized groundwater withdrawal is prohibited.

Before operations begin, the permit holder must demonstrate that required electrical infrastructure is complete or available.

The project must comply with approved requirements for generators, fuel, air-related impacts, battery safety, fire protection, emergency response, traffic, road use, lighting, stormwater, floodplain protection, erosion, heat rejection, hazardous materials, spills, refrigerants, cooling chemicals, transformer oils, electronic waste, and disposal.

Before operations begin, the permit holder must obtain approval of a decommissioning plan and continuously maintain financial assurance equal to 100 percent of the estimated third-party cost of decommissioning, stabilization, disposal, remediation, and site restoration.

The decommissioning cost estimate and financial assurance must be reviewed at least every three years and after specified events, including qualifying material modifications, ownership transfers, or incidents; deficiencies generally must be corrected within 30 days.

Applicants must pay a nonrefundable $25,000 base application fee and an initial application-review escrow of at least $100,000, with possible higher escrow based on project scale, complexity, and anticipated review needs.

Applicants and permit holders must reimburse reasonable, documented, nonduplicative, project-specific review, monitoring, and certain enforcement costs; escrow must be replenished within 30 days after notice, subject to limited dispute procedures.

Beginning when the CUP becomes effective or monitoring begins, the permit holder must pay an annual monitoring fee under a Quorum Court-adopted schedule and may also be required to maintain a separate monitoring escrow for unusually intensive monitoring.

Permit holders must allow reasonable compliance inspections, submit certified annual reports covering operations and impacts, and retain compliance records for at least five years.

Violations can result in notices and cure requirements, stop-work or partial-shutdown orders, suspension, injunctions, abatement, financial-security recovery, cost recovery, civil or criminal penalties where authorized, and CUP revocation for sufficiently serious or repeated violations.

A CUP expires unless substantial construction begins within 24 months after the County Final Administrative Decision, subject to tolling for specified judicial, governmental, or force-majeure delays.

After substantial construction begins, a continuous cessation of material construction activity for 12 months may lead to expiration after notice and hearing, and the Planning Board may grant one extension of no more than 12 months under specified conditions.

Continuous cessation of operations for 24 months may result in a formal abandonment determination, which terminates authority to operate and activates decommissioning and restoration obligations, subject to exceptions for documented temporary shutdowns.

Transfers of ownership or operational control require advance or prompt notice, updated responsible contacts and emergency plans, continuation or replacement of insurance and financial assurance, and a written successor assumption of all CUP, monitoring, reporting, decommissioning, restoration, and enforcement obligations.

Material modifications require an amended CUP and include, among other triggers, a demand increase of at least the lesser of 10 percent or 5 megawatts, qualifying floor-area or water-demand increases, site expansion, added major infrastructure, new phases, or material changes in cooling, fuel, battery, generator, or emergency-response requirements.

Related changes must be aggregated, and projects may not be divided, phased, sequenced, conveyed, leased, or otherwise structured to avoid amended-CUP review or enforcement.

Projects without all required Final County Approvals before the ordinance's effective date are subject to the ordinance, even if they already filed applications, received preliminary approvals, incurred costs, acquired property, began site work, or obtained utility agreements.

Projects with all Final County Approvals before the effective date are exempt from obtaining a new CUP only within the scope of those approvals; expansions, new phases, capacity increases, changes in operational purpose, and other material modifications remain subject to review.

HIDIUs located wholly or partly in the Lake Maumelle Watershed must comply with both this ordinance and the watershed zoning requirements, with each required approval decided separately and the more protective lawful standard controlling when standards conflict.

Facilities below the ordinance’s HIDIU thresholds are not covered by this ordinance. Coverage begins at one or more thresholds: 10 megawatts of continuous electrical demand, 100,000 square feet of qualifying computing space, 100,000 gallons per day of average water demand, or 3 megawatts of dedicated on-site generation or battery-storage capacity. (§ 4.1)

An applicant may use an independent professional’s analysis to demonstrate that water and wastewater demand can reasonably be served when provider confirmation is not yet reasonably available. Final provider verification is required later, before building-permit issuance. (§§ 6.2(d), 10.3)

The Planning Director must determine whether an application is complete or identify missing information within 30 calendar days, creating a defined completeness-review deadline. The deadline may be suspended while requested information is outstanding. (§ 6.3)

The Planning Board generally must issue a written decision within 45 calendar days after the hearing record closes, although the applicant may agree to an extension or extraordinary complexity may justify a stated extension. (§ 6.9)

Projects that obtained all Final County Approvals for their specific use, location, scale, capacity, structures, facilities, phases, and approved plans before the ordinance’s effective date do not have to obtain a new conditional-use permit solely because of the ordinance. (§ 17.2)

A project with qualifying pre-effective-date Final County Approvals may proceed within the scope of those approvals and remains subject to its existing conditions rather than the new conditional-use-permit process. Expansions, additional phases, and other development outside the approved scope are not protected. (§ 17.2)

For projects with qualifying existing approvals, completion, operation, maintenance, repair, or substantially equivalent equipment replacement after the effective date does not by itself require material-modification review, so long as it does not materially increase or alter the approved impacts. (§ 17.4)

A conditional-use permit generally expires only if Substantial Construction has not begun within 24 months after the County Final Administrative Decision. That period is tolled during qualifying judicial proceedings, governmental moratoria or injunctions, and documented force majeure events. (§ 14.1)

The Planning Board may grant one permit extension of up to 12 months for good-faith progress, circumstances beyond the permit holder’s control, or other good cause, provided adverse impacts have not materially increased. (§ 14.3)

Temporary operational shutdowns for maintenance, repair, modernization, utility interruption, market conditions, force majeure, or other documented temporary causes are not abandonment when the permit holder maintains the site, security, fire protection, financial assurance, and intent and capacity to resume lawful operations. (§ 14.4)

A conditional-use permit runs with the land and binds successor owners, lessees, operators, and tenants. A successor can continue the project by providing the required notice and executing an assumption of the permit’s obligations. (§§ 15.1–15.2)

Application-review costs are limited to reasonable, documented, nonduplicative, project-specific costs; the County must provide budgets and itemized statements, and unused escrow funds must be refunded after the review matter is complete, subject to identified outstanding obligations or disputes. (§§ 11.1, 11.3, 11.6, 11.11)

The ordinance establishes a fixed, nonrefundable base application fee of $25,000 and an initial application-review escrow of $100,000 unless a higher amount is justified by project scale, complexity, or anticipated review needs and supported by a written preliminary budget. (§ 11.2–11.3)

Routine inspections and monitoring are funded through an annual monitoring fee or separately established monitoring escrow rather than the application-review escrow, and no annual monitoring fee is due until the Quorum Court adopts and publishes a fee schedule. (§ 11.8)

County inspections are limited to areas, records, equipment, and conditions relevant to land-use compliance, and may not require access to customer data, personal data, proprietary algorithms, cybersecurity credentials, computing content, or unrelated secure systems. (§ 12.1–12.3)

The ordinance does not regulate utility rates, tariffs, electric-service contracts, or matters within the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s authority, and a utility approval or agreement remains relevant evidence concerning utility matters. (§§ 5(c), 10.4, 16(a))

Establishes a temporary 12-month moratorium on County approval of qualifying high-intensity digital infrastructure and high-impact utility-intensive industrial facilities in the unincorporated areas of Pulaski County.

During the moratorium, County departments, boards, commissions, officials, and employees may not approve or issue conditional-use permits, development permits, land-disturbance permits, site-plan approvals, rezoning requests, subdivision approvals, or other discretionary approvals for construction, development, redevelopment, or expansion of covered facilities.

Applications for covered facilities submitted after the ordinance’s effective date may not be approved until the moratorium expires or is terminated, unless a separate ordinance expressly authorizes approval.

The restrictions apply to a High-Intensity Digital Infrastructure facility or other High-Impact Utility-Intensive Use facility that is designed to require at least 5 megawatts of electrical demand, maintain an electric load factor of at least 90 percent, connect to the electric grid at a voltage above 100 kilovolts, and require at least 100,000 gallons of water per day.

Requires the Pulaski County Planning Board during the moratorium to evaluate and potentially develop additional controls, including conditional-use permits, a Notice of Industrial Impact and Intent process, utility-coordination procedures, infrastructure-impact standards, emergency-response standards, water and wastewater reviews, cost-recovery fees, monitoring and enforcement provisions, and public-participation procedures.

Requires any regulatory drafts identified by the Planning Board to be submitted to the Quorum Court within 120 days of the moratorium’s effective date, with monthly progress reports to the Quorum Court.

Exempts projects that had received final County approvals or had executed an electric-utility-service contract before the ordinance’s effective date from the moratorium.

Exempts certain existing businesses and facilities from the moratorium when their expansion, replacement, modernization, upgrading, repair, or improvement does not create, convert to, expand into, or otherwise constitute a covered facility.

Exempts public schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, medical facilities, public-safety facilities, water and wastewater facilities, public-utility infrastructure, electric-generation and renewable-energy facilities serving generation purposes, agricultural operations, and lawful business activities not primarily intended to support a covered facility.

Exempts facilities primarily used for telecommunications services, including wireline, wireless, broadband, network-interconnection, and emergency-communications infrastructure.

The moratorium applies only to facilities meeting all specified thresholds: at least 5 megawatts of electric demand, a 90% or higher load factor, a grid connection above 100 kilovolts, and water demand of at least 100,000 gallons per day. Facilities that do not meet every threshold are outside the moratorium.

Existing lawful businesses and facilities may expand, modernize, replace, upgrade, repair, or improve their operations, provided the work does not create, convert to, expand into, or otherwise constitute a covered high-intensity digital infrastructure or high-impact utility-intensive facility.

Projects that received final County approvals before the ordinance’s effective date are exempt from the moratorium.

Projects that executed a contract for electric utility service before the ordinance’s effective date are exempt from the moratorium.

The moratorium is temporary, lasting twelve months unless repealed earlier, rather than a permanent prohibition on covered facilities.

The ordinance states that the moratorium is not intended to be a ban or prohibition and allows the Quorum Court to authorize a project during the moratorium through a separate ordinance.

The ordinance exempts public utility infrastructure, electric generation facilities, and renewable-energy facilities serving electric-generation purposes from the moratorium, potentially allowing qualifying power-related infrastructure to be developed without the moratorium’s approval suspension.

Creates a 12-month moratorium, effective immediately upon adoption, on approving covered high-intensity digital infrastructure and high-impact utility-intensive industrial facilities in unincorporated Pulaski County.

During the moratorium, the County may not approve conditional-use permits, development permits, land-disturbance permits, site plans, rezoning requests, subdivision approvals, or other discretionary approvals for construction, development, redevelopment, or expansion of covered facilities; applications submitted after the effective date cannot be approved until the moratorium ends or is terminated.

The moratorium covers data centers and similar digital-processing facilities with at least 5 megawatts of electrical demand or at least 100,000 gallons per day of water demand, as well as utility-intensive facilities designed for at least 5 megawatts of continuous demand or expected to create significant utility, public-safety, environmental, emergency-response, or infrastructure impacts.

The Planning Board may determine that proposed uses substantially similar to the covered facility categories are also subject to the moratorium.

The moratorium does not apply to projects that, before its effective date, had final County approvals, executed binding utility-interconnection agreements, or completed and received final utility-study acceptance; preliminary inquiries, expressions of interest, screening studies, and other nonbinding or preliminary utility communications do not qualify as final utility-study acceptance.

Expansion, modernization, replacement, redevelopment, upgrading, repair, or improvement of an existing lawful business is exempt only if it does not establish, convert to, expand into, or otherwise constitute a covered high-intensity digital infrastructure or high-impact utility-intensive industrial facility.

During the moratorium, the County must develop a conditional-use-permit framework, a Notice of Industrial Impact and Intent process, utility-coordination procedures, infrastructure and emergency-response standards, water and wastewater review standards, monitoring provisions, and fee or cost-recovery mechanisms; draft CUP and NOII ordinances must be submitted within 290 days of the moratorium's effective date.

Existing lawful businesses in unincorporated Pulaski County may expand, modernize, replace, redevelop, upgrade, repair, or improve their facilities without being subject to the moratorium, provided the work does not create, convert to, expand into, or otherwise constitute a covered high-intensity digital infrastructure or high-impact utility-intensive industrial facility.

Projects are protected from the moratorium if, before its effective date, they received final County approvals, received final utility-study acceptance, or executed all necessary binding utility interconnection agreements. Final utility-study acceptance requires the utility provider to complete material studies, identify required infrastructure, determine that service can be provided subject to stated conditions, and have no pending discretionary study that could materially change that determination.

The moratorium does not apply to projects that, before its effective date, submitted complete interconnection applications and received final utility-study acceptance. Preliminary inquiries, expressions of interest, nonbinding correspondence, screening studies, and other preliminary utility reviews do not qualify.

The moratorium is temporary: it lasts twelve months from its effective date unless repealed earlier, and draft conditional-use-permit and Notice of Industrial Impact and Intent ordinances must be submitted within 290 days.

Imposes a temporary 12-month (one-year) moratorium in the unincorporated areas of Pulaski County on accepting, processing, or approving applications for the development, construction, or siting of data centers or other high-intensity digital infrastructure projects.

Projects are exempt from the moratorium if, before its effective date, they had received final County approvals, executed all required binding utility interconnection agreements, or submitted complete interconnection applications and received final utility study acceptance. Final acceptance requires completed material studies, identified required infrastructure, and a determination that service can be provided subject to stated conditions; preliminary or nonbinding studies do not qualify.