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The Data Center Divide

Village of Sugar Grove

Neutral Data Center Policies

Sugar Grove allows data centers in designated and industrial districts, but minimum lot sizes, setbacks, landscaping, screening, and other standards constrain development and may add costs.

current law · Village of Sugar Grove
Creates a dedicated data center zoning district, allows data centers in specified industrial districts, and sets site, design, screening, landscaping, and wastewater requirements.Village of Sugar Grove Ordinance No. 2022-1206B (2022)

What this means

The measure creates a clear path for data centers in a dedicated district and allows them in industrial districts too, subject to the same rules (data centers in the M-1 and I-1 districts). But minimum lot size, setbacks, landscaping, screening, and other standards add costs and constraints (minimum lot size). Overall, the new zoning route is a modest benefit despite these requirements.

People behind it

  • Community Development Director who submitted the board report and reported that Village staff prepared the proposed ordinance.

  • Recommended approval of the zoning ordinance amendment in Recommendation PC22-015.

  • Municipal party that proposed, adopted, and administered the data center zoning district amendment.

Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements19
  • Data-center lots must be at least five acres and at least 350 feet wide at the building setback line. (minimum lot size and width)

  • Buildings must satisfy substantial setbacks: 75 feet from streets forming the DC District boundary, 40 feet from interior public or private streets, 25 feet from interior side lot lines, and 50 feet from rear lot lines, increasing to 75 feet where the rear lot line is a district boundary. (yard and setback requirements

  • Where a DC lot abuts a residential or institutional use or district, the required yard is increased by one additional foot for every foot of building height. (additional yard requirement)

  • Buildings, accessory structures, and impervious surfaces may occupy no more than 75 percent of a lot. (maximum lot coverage)

  • Structures may not exceed 65 feet in height. (structure height limit

  • Sidewalks or trails for pedestrian or bicycle access must be provided along any abutting public road when required by the Village Engineer. (sidewalk and trail requirement)

  • All public-right-of-way-facing facades and at least 50 percent of other facades must use specified materials, including masonry, brick, stone, decorative concrete block, architectural steel and glass, or precast panels; aluminum and vinyl siding cannot be the primary building material. (facade material requirements)

  • Principal facades must include at least two specified design elements, multiple principal facades must be consistent, and walls over 250 feet must be articulated through facade changes, windows, landscaping, or a combination of those measures. (facade design standards)

  • Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment, generators, utilities, storage yards, satellite antennas, and other mechanical equipment visible to the public must be screened; ground-mounted screening fences may not exceed eight feet, and roof-mounted equipment over four feet must also be screened. (mechanical equipment screening

  • A data center sharing a lot line with a more restrictive zoning district must provide landscape screening at a rate of three shrubs per 25 linear feet of data-center property line, and street trees are required at a rate of one 2.5-inch-caliper shade tree per 50 linear feet of frontage when required by the Village Engineer. (landscape and street-tree requirements)

  • Existing trees at least six inches in diameter at breast height must be preserved when possible under a tree-preservation plan, and removal of such trees generally requires replacement trees at a rate of one three-inch-caliper tree per six inches of removed tree diameter, capped at three replacement trees per removed tree. (tree preservation and replacement rules)

  • Security fencing is required around the property at a height of eight feet, must be landscaped to meet applicable screening standards, and may not use chain-link or mesh fencing with screening slats or fabric, barbed wire, razor wire, or electrified elements. (security fencing requirements)

  • Waste or materials may not be deposited in a form that could be transferred off-site by natural forces such as water, wind, or snow. (waste-material restriction)

  • Exterior lighting must comply with the Village zoning code's outdoor-illumination standards, and parking must comply with the zoning code's off-street parking requirements. (lighting and parking requirements)

  • Wastewater flow is limited to six population equivalents per acre. (wastewater limit)

  • All DC District uses must comply with the performance standards governing matters such as noise, glare, vibration, and odor, including applicable Illinois Pollution Control Board, state, local, and municipal requirements. (performance standards)

  • Applicants for permitted uses must submit three sets of drawings and extensive site, survey, zoning, adjacent-development, building, grading, landscaping, access, parking, signage, lighting, storage, waste-disposal, and engineering information; final engineering plans must be approved by the Village Engineer before a building permit is issued. (submittal requirements)

  • Additional buildings and improvements may be constructed without further zoning review only if the owner submits site, elevation, and landscape plans and the Community Development Director determines that they comply with the development standards. (conditions for additional buildings and improvements)

  • Data centers in the listed zoning districts are subject to the use classifications and additional standards in the zoning code, including the requirements of Chapter 10B; special uses, where applicable, are governed through the separate special-use process. (use and additional-standard requirements)

Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions5
  • Creates a dedicated Data Center District intended for data-center facilities and associated infrastructure, including air handlers, generators, water-cooling and storage facilities, utility substations, and other infrastructure supporting continuous operations (data center definition).

  • Allows data centers not only in the new DC District but also in the M-1 and I-1 industrial districts, subject to the same development standards (also will permit data centers in the M-1 and I-1 industrial zoning districts).

  • Permits structures up to 65 feet in height, allowing taller data-center buildings and equipment clearances (not more than sixty-five feet).

  • Allows up to 75 percent of a lot to be occupied by buildings, accessory structures, and impervious surfaces (no more than seventy five percent).

  • Allows an owner in a Planned Development to construct additional buildings and improvements without further zoning review or approval by the Village's corporate authorities, provided the owner submits site plans, elevations, and landscape plans and the Community Development Director determines that they comply with the development standards (without further zoning review or approval).

Sources

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