A 12-month moratorium, effective immediately, pauses acceptance, processing, and approval of land-use applications for data center facilities in unincorporated Mesa County; it does not apply to the City of Grand Junction.

The County suspends negotiations for inducements for data center facilities.

The proposed Use Table allows data centers only through a Conditional Use Permit in the I-1 and I-2 industrial zoning districts, requiring review through the County's public-hearing process.

Data-center development, construction, remodeling, or use is prohibited without all approvals and permits required by the Land Development Code.

Commercial or industrial data centers must meet fire-protection requirements, which may include fire-district membership or a service agreement, fire hydrants, specified water flows and pipe sizes, fire-apparatus access, and automatic sprinklers or an approved alternative fire-protection plan.

Development disturbing one acre or more, or forming part of a larger common development plan, must comply with Construction Stormwater regulations and obtain a Mesa County Construction Stormwater Permit, including required controls and inspections.

A traffic impact analysis or traffic study is required when projected traffic exceeds 100 peak-hour trips, access is proposed to a street operating at Level of Service D or worse, or an existing traffic analysis is more than two years old and specified traffic increases or directional-distribution changes occur.

Developers may be required to construct or fund adjacent, primary-access, and internal road improvements, and traffic-generating developments are subject to the County's Transportation Impact Fee.

New development must provide an adequate potable water supply, obtain provider certification and agree to connect when served by an available system, and may need to create or join a public water or metropolitan district when outside existing service areas.

Projects within the Persigo wastewater service area must connect to the Grand Junction-Mesa County wastewater system when a major sewer line exists or is built within 400 feet of the property through a public right-of-way or utility easement; other service-area and onsite wastewater requirements also apply.

Nonresidential development in urban zoning districts, and nonresidential development along state highways or arterial roads, must meet landscaping requirements that may include a licensed landscape architect's plan, specified trees and shrubs, street-frontage and parking-lot landscaping, buffers or screening, and irrigation.

Outdoor storage, trash collection, loading, truck parking, and similar service areas generally must be placed in rear or side areas, screened from streets and neighboring properties, and designed for adequate vehicle maneuvering. Delivery, loading, trash removal, and compaction are prohibited from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. unless qualifying sound barriers reduce noise to 45 decibels at adjoining property lines.

Exterior light sources may not be mounted more than 35 feet above ground. Building-facade floodlighting is prohibited from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and lighting used during those hours for streets, sidewalks, parking lots, or other outdoor areas must use full-cutoff fixtures.

Development in a designated floodplain must comply with floodplain regulations and generally obtain a Floodplain Development Permit for construction, grading, filling, paving, excavation, drilling, or other human-made changes. Floodway development must meet no-rise requirements, and flood-fringe structures must satisfy elevation or floodproofing standards.

Expansion of a legally nonconforming nonresidential use or structure may not increase the degree of dimensional nonconformity. Expansions of 25 percent or more must proportionally provide required parking, landscaping, screening, and similar improvements, and a nonresidential nonconforming use discontinued for one year is considered abandoned and may not be reestablished.

A data center operating in a nonresidential district must comply with applicable off-street parking, access, circulation, and site-design standards. Required parking generally must be on the same lot, outside required street setbacks, and meet accessibility, paving, dimensional, and circulation requirements; telecommunications facilities are listed as requiring no vehicle parking spaces.

Data centers may be approved through a Conditional Use Permit in the I-1 and I-2 industrial districts under the Warehouse and Freight Movement category, subject to the CUP process and applicable general standards.

The draft imposes no data-center-specific standards for issues such as water use, electrical demand, noise, backup generation, fire hazards, or decommissioning; applications are evaluated under general CUP criteria.

A data center classified as a Telecommunications Facility has no minimum vehicle-parking requirement under the parking schedule.

An applicant may submit a professionally prepared parking study to challenge the applicable parking ratio, allowing the Director to establish a different minimum based on the study and other engineering or planning information.

Alternative parking plans may satisfy parking requirements through bicycle parking, valet parking, transportation-demand management, eligible off-site parking, or shared parking, subject to applicable studies, agreements, distance limits, zoning requirements, and other conditions.

A nonresidential subdivision connected to public sewer may use lots smaller than the normal minimum size if it provides required shared detention, pedestrian connections, access, parking and circulation easements, and complies with other applicable code requirements.

The County and developer may agree to a payment in lieu of constructing required public improvements under a written agreement describing the improvements and payment terms.

When fire hydrants are impractical, an alternative fire-protection plan may use on-site fire flows, sprinklers, cisterns, above-ground tanks, or man-made water bodies if the responsible fire chief finds equivalent protection or compliance with the adopted fire code.

The Director may modify landscaping requirements when the section's intent is met and may approve alternative plant materials when their suitability for Mesa County conditions is documented.

A legally established nonconforming nonresidential use in a nonresidential zone may expand if other code requirements are met; expansions of less than 25 percent of an existing structure receive limited relief from correcting nonconforming parking, landscaping, screening, and similar standards.

A legally established nonconforming nonresidential use may be restored after damage or destruction if it is placed in a conforming structure, meets current codes, obtains a building permit within one year, and receives a certificate of occupancy or final inspection within two years, with a possible one-year extension for specified delays.

Existing data centers may continue operating during the moratorium.

Routine maintenance, repair, and equipment replacement at existing data centers remain allowed during the moratorium.

Projects with complete land-use applications submitted before the moratorium took effect may continue through the permitting process under the prior rules.