Cryptocurrency mining is expressly prohibited as a data-center use.

Large-scale or hyperscale data centers must obtain a Technology Overlay District designation through the zoning-change process. The application must include a site plan and specified studies, property owners within at least 300 feet must receive written notice, the Planning Advisory Commission must hold a public hearing, and the City Council must conduct two readings, with the first reading constituting a public hearing.

A data-center development must occupy at least 75 acres in one contiguous tract under common ownership or control; assembling parcels without a replat does not satisfy this requirement. Smaller facilities below the ordinance's thresholds remain permitted by right in specified commercial and industrial districts.

Principal data-center buildings may not exceed 75 feet in height, although accessory structures such as water towers, HVAC equipment, generators, and other incidental uninhabited structures are exempt from the height limit.

A minimum 200-foot buffer, including vegetative screening sufficient to provide a continuous visual screen at maturity, is required along property lines adjoining residential districts, in addition to applicable setbacks. The most restrictive applicable buffer or setback standard controls.

HVAC and air-conditioning equipment must be screened from public rights-of-way and adjacent properties unless the equipment is more than 200 feet from adjacent property lines. Principal-building front facades must generally face a street or adjacent arterial street, subject to exceptions for buildings more than 500 feet from or not visible from a public right-of-way.

Security fencing and walls may not be placed within the required buffer unless they comply with the underlying zoning district's fencing rules.

Exterior lighting must be shielded and downcast, use full cut-off fixtures, use light poles no taller than 25 feet, place poles at least 10 feet from exterior property lines, and maintain no more than 0.5 foot-candles at the property line. The City may require a photometric lighting plan.

Data-center operations must comply with rolling 30-minute noise limits measured at property lines. At residential boundaries, the limits are 65 dBA and 75 dBC during the day and 55 dBA and 65 dBC at night; at other boundaries, the limits are 70 dBA and 75 dBC during the day and 65 dBA at night.

Before a building permit is issued, the developer must submit an acoustic-impact study prepared by a qualified Georgia-licensed acoustical engineer. The study must model expected dBA and dBC levels at all property lines, and its assumptions and noise commitments must be binding in the development agreement.

After occupancy, the City may obtain or require sound studies, with the operator responsible for the costs. Failure to correct a violation after an approved compliance deadline can result in fines of up to $1,000 per day, civil action, and revocation of the affected building's certificate of occupancy; continued noncompliance for more than 30 days after the deadline is grounds for civil action.

Routine emergency-generator testing is limited to 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding federal and state holidays. The operator must notify property owners within 1,000 feet and the Director of Inspections and Code at least 72 hours before a scheduled test. These limits do not apply to emergency generator operation during an actual utility outage.

Before permits are issued or construction begins, developers seeking local utility service must obtain utility-availability letters for electric, water, sanitary sewer, natural gas, and telecommunications service. Each utility provider must first complete system-impact studies and confirm in writing that service can be provided.

Cooling and ventilation equipment may not use evaporative open-loop cooling. The ordinance instead requires non-evaporative systems, and all water use, discharge, flushing, refilling, and industrial pretreatment must comply with applicable City, Columbus Water Works, state, and federal requirements. Required industrial-user permits must be obtained before sanitary-sewer discharge.

Before land-disturbance permits, certificates of occupancy, or other development approvals, the developer must enter into a City-acceptable development agreement covering infrastructure costs and timing, noise obligations, cooling and water use, buffers, construction phasing, expansion or megawatt-capacity limits, and other listed requirements.

The development agreement must make the developer financially responsible for required utility, infrastructure, public-service, and public-safety upgrades, including reasonable costs incurred by adjacent residential property owners when extending sewer service triggers mandatory connections.

The development agreement must address project abandonment and reclamation and require the developer to fund a City-held decommissioning reserve in an amount determined by the agreement.

If the City cannot reasonably provide the utilities needed for the project, it may refuse to enter into the development agreement; without that agreement, land-disturbance permits, certificates of occupancy, and other development approvals may not be issued.

Creates a Technology Overlay District specifically for large-scale or hyperscale data centers, allowing those projects to be approved through the overlay-zoning process rather than requiring a separate use prohibition or ordinance for each project. provide an overlay to permit and regulate data centers

Allows smaller data-processing facilities that do not meet the hyperscale thresholds to remain permitted by right in the General Commercial, Special Activities Center, Light Manufacturing/Industrial, and Heavy Manufacturing/Industrial districts. remain permitted by right

Permits a broad range of data-center-related uses within the overlay, including data processing, storage, hosting, software development, telecommunications infrastructure, public utility facilities, and solar, renewable, and alternative-energy facilities. Uses permitted as Data centers and related technology uses

Leaves the property's underlying zoning unchanged when a Technology Overlay District is applied, preserving the underlying zoning rather than replacing it. The underlying zoning of a property shall remain unaffected

Sets a 75-foot building-height limit measured from the structure pad, while exempting accessory structures such as water towers, conveyor belts, HVAC equipment, generators, and other incidental, uninhabited structures from the height limit. Height limitations shall not apply to accessory structures

Permits required internal subdivision of a data-center campus without applying minimum lot frontage, width, and acreage requirements to each subdivided lot, provided the overall contiguous campus complies and each lot has adequate road access. Minimum lot frontages, width and acreage shall not apply

Allows private roads within data-center campuses, providing an alternative to relying exclusively on public streets for internal circulation. Private roads are permitted within data center campuses

Exempts air-conditioning and HVAC equipment from the screening requirement when the equipment is more than 200 feet from adjacent property lines. This requirement shall not apply where the equipment is more than 200 feet

Allows security fences and walls outside the required setback and buffer without height limitations, and expressly permits guardhouses and secured-entry features at public-road entrances. Fences and walls outside the required setback and buffer

Creates a defined utility-availability process under which developers can obtain written confirmation from each utility provider regarding electric, water, sewer, natural-gas, and telecommunications service after system-impact studies. utility availability letter confirming the availability

Provides a formal development-agreement mechanism covering infrastructure, utilities, public services, construction phasing, build-out timelines, and future expansion or megawatt-capacity conditions. The developer must pay required system-upgrade costs, and the City may decline the agreement if it cannot reasonably provide the required utilities. The Development Agreement shall, at minimum, address