Data centers and related development may not be established, constructed, reconstructed, altered, or replaced unless they comply with the Zoning Code; the County may not issue planning, building, or grading permits for noncompliant development.

Site plan review is required for permitted uses that require a building permit, and approval must be obtained before a ministerial building permit or site-improvement plan is issued.

If the applicable zoning classification requires an administrative permit, minor use permit, or use permit, the data center must obtain that approval before establishment or construction. Use and minor use permits require discretionary findings regarding General Plan and Zoning Code consistency and impacts on neighboring persons or property.

Discretionary approvals require a public hearing and review under applicable planning laws, including CEQA; notice generally must be provided to property owners within 300 feet.

Applicants must submit required fees, deposits, information, and materials and pay all County costs incurred in processing the planning-permit application.

Applications are subject to completeness review, generally within 30 days, or within 14 days for administrative, temporary-use, and minor-use permits. An application not completed within six months may be deemed withdrawn.

Approving authorities may impose operating and construction conditions addressing traffic access, parking, hours of operation, noise, vibration, glare, dust, odors, heat, maintenance, security, and site restoration. They may also require a performance bond or other security.

Approved administrative permits, use permits, minor use permits, variances, and minor variances generally do not become effective until the 11th calendar day after approval if no appeal is filed; appeals generally must be filed within 10 days.

Permits and approvals generally expire if not exercised within 24 months of their effective date. A timely written request, fee, proof of good-faith effort, and circumstances beyond the applicant's control are required for an extension, which is limited to one additional 12-month period.

After a permit application is finally denied, a new application for the same or substantially similar proposal may not be filed for at least 12 months.

Changes to an approved project generally require a revision application. Administrative approval is limited to minor changes that do not expand the project or substantially alter its approval; other changes require review by the original approval authority and may require another public hearing.

A nonconforming data-center use generally may not be expanded, enlarged, extended, reconstructed, substituted, or structurally altered unless it conforms to current zoning standards or obtains a use permit. Agricultural uses and agricultural operations are exempt from these nonconforming-use restrictions.

Required parking must be provided on site under the applicable use standards. For an unlisted use, the Zoning Administrator determines the requirement based on similar uses and may require a parking-demand study; parking areas must also meet specified size, access, surfacing, drainage, slope, and lighting standards.

Commercial, office, and industrial uses above applicable floor-area thresholds must provide on-site loading spaces. Loading areas may not occupy required parking or circulation areas or encroach into required front-yard setbacks, and loading spaces generally must be at least 12 feet wide, 40 feet long, and 14 feet high.

Minimum landscaped-area requirements apply in commercial, mixed-use, and industrial zones: 5 percent in M-1 and M-2, 10 percent in RD, C-1, C-2, and C-H, and 15 percent in C-R and MU. Covered projects must also use water-efficient irrigation, prevent runoff and overspray, irrigate between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m., and group plants by similar water needs.

Outdoor lighting must be shielded and directed downward so direct light does not cross the property line or enter a public right-of-way. New fixtures must be energy efficient and have a rated average bulb life of at least 10,000 hours; moving, flashing, or animated lighting requires a use permit. Searchlights and laser-source lights are generally prohibited except for specified emergencies or approved temporary events, as are illumination of entire buildings and roof-mounted lighting except for security.

Development within 50 feet of a wetland, waterway, riparian habitat, or sensitive habitat is subject to natural-resource-buffer restrictions. Otherwise-permitted uses or structures in the buffer require a Minor Use Permit, with findings that the encroachment cannot feasibly be located elsewhere and that resource and flood-protection measures will be provided.

Construction in a natural-resource buffer requires permits from other responsible agencies and County-approved plans. Grading, alteration of natural contours or riparian vegetation, and streambed filling, grading, excavation, or obstruction are generally prohibited except for specified public-safety, utility, bridge, drainage, or restoration activities.

Development on land with an average natural slope exceeding 15 percent is subject to hillside and ridgeline standards. Slopes of 30 percent or more should not be disturbed, access-road grades should generally not exceed 15 percent, and structures should generally be at least 30 feet below the nearest ridge or knoll and not be silhouetted against the sky from a public street.

The County may revoke or modify a discretionary permit after notice and a public hearing for violations of conditions or the Zoning Code, misrepresentation, failure to allow inspections, nuisance operation, changed circumstances, or discontinuance of the permitted use for at least 12 months.

Zoning Code violations, including unlawful operation of a data center, may constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment for up to six months, or both. Violating uses or structures are also public nuisances subject to abatement.

The Research and Development (RD) zone is intended for high-technology, non-polluting manufacturing, research and development facilities, and corporate or industrial offices, providing a potential zoning basis for a data center classified as an R&D use.

Research and development is a permitted use in the M-1 Light Industrial, M-2 Heavy Industrial, and RD zones, so a qualifying data center would not require a discretionary use permit for that use classification.

Industrial zones have no minimum parcel size, subject to a minimum parcel width of 60 feet and depth of 100 feet.

Industrial development may use a maximum floor-area ratio of 0.60 in the M-1 and M-2 zones and 0.75 in the RD zone.

Maximum primary-structure heights are 50 feet in the M-1 and RD zones and 100 feet in the M-2 zone, with taller accessory structures also allowed under applicable standards.

Depending on the actual proposed use, industrial zoning permits research and development, general and light manufacturing, telecommunications facilities, and certain warehousing, wholesaling, distribution, and utility uses without the same discretionary review required for conditional uses.

Site-plan review is ministerial for permitted uses requiring a building permit, allowing review before issuance of the building permit without discretionary project review.

Administrative permits are processed at staff level without public notice and are ministerial projects not subject to CEQA review when the proposal complies with the applicable zoning, General Plan, and entitlement standards.

The County generally must determine application completeness within 30 days, or within 14 days for administrative, temporary-use, and minor-use permits, unless additional information is timely requested.

Multiple planning-permit applications for one project must be processed concurrently and decided by the highest applicable review authority, avoiding separate sequential reviews.

Approved administrative permits, use permits, minor use permits, variances, and minor variances become effective on the eleventh calendar day after approval if no appeal is filed.

Permits and authorizations generally run with the land through changes in ownership, so approval conditions continue to bind successors, subject to expiration and licensing requirements.

Permits generally remain available for 24 months to begin construction or the approved use, with one possible extension of up to 12 months if the applicant shows good-faith efforts and circumstances beyond its control prevented timely exercise; the request must be filed before expiration.

The Director may approve minor, code-consistent revisions to an approved site plan, building design, landscaping, parking layout, or land use administratively when the change does not alter conditions or mitigation measures, expand the project, substantially alter the approval, or adversely affect the surrounding area.

A development agreement can assure that an approved project proceeds under specified conditions and existing policies, rules, and regulations. It may establish the agreement's duration, permitted uses, development intensity, building height and size, and public-purpose land provisions, but requires Board approval and is subject to periodic review.

A lawfully established nonconforming use, building, or structure may continue despite later zoning restrictions if it was lawful and actually existed when the conflicting regulation took effect.

A nonconforming use may be changed, expanded, enlarged, extended, reconstructed, or structurally altered with a use permit if the reviewing authority finds that it will not conflict with or harm permitted or conditional uses in the applicable or adjoining zones.

Use permits that were valid before a rezoning or later Zoning Code amendment generally remain valid and may be used, transferred, extended, or modified; an extension after the change requires substantial reliance expenditures or circumstances beyond the applicant's control that prevented completion.

A legally established undersized parcel may be used for a permitted use if it meets applicable dimensional standards or obtains a variance or minor variance and satisfies County water and sewage-disposal requirements.

A nonconforming use, building, or structure damaged or destroyed by catastrophe may generally be restored to its original floor area or extent without a use permit, if restoration begins within 12 months and is completed within 24 months, subject to a possible Planning Commission extension.

Shared parking may reduce required parking by up to 50 percent of the requirement for the most intensive participating use when the uses have different peak periods. Required commercial or industrial parking may also be located off-site within 500 feet if specified access, safety, and recorded-covenant requirements are met.

Minor utility facilities, including power lines, water and sewer lines, transformers, and water and sewer pump stations, are permitted in industrial zones; major utilities are allowed with a use permit.

Telecommunications facilities are permitted uses in the M-1, M-2, and RD zones, supporting communications infrastructure for a data center.

The Energy Production overlay may be applied to M-1 and M-2 industrial zones and allows specified energy-related facilities, including electric-power transmission infrastructure, substations, pipelines, transmission lines, and accessory facilities, subject to location, environmental, noise, access, drainage, and fire-protection standards.

The Planned Development overlay allows flexibility in development regulations, clustering, mixtures of uses, and physical standards such as lot area, yards, and building heights when required findings are met. It generally requires at least two contiguous acres, a public hearing, and Board approval, and cannot override base-zone uses or density in conflict with the General Plan.