The City had enacted a moratorium on accepting, processing, and approving data-center applications, prompting the zoning amendments. The agenda does not specify the moratorium's duration. moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of data center applications

Data centers are allowed only as conditional uses in the I-2 Heavy Industrial district and are prohibited in every other zoning district. eligible for consideration only as a Conditional Use in the I-2 zoning district

A data center must obtain a conditional use permit from the Board of Zoning Adjustment, including public notice and an opportunity for the public to be heard. The Board must affirmatively find that all requirements will be met and that the project is consistent with public health, safety, and welfare. after public notice and opportunity to be heard

The application must cover the entire data-center site and the maximum full-buildout capacity of all phases; projects may not be divided or phased to avoid cumulative review. application and approval shall encompass the entire Data Center Site

Server-building floor area is capped at 50,000 square feet at full buildout, with the limit aggregated across server buildings, phases, parcels, and additions under common ownership, control, management, or operation. shall not exceed fifty thousand (50,000) square feet at full buildout

A building containing server operations must be dedicated entirely to the data center; it may not also contain unrelated office, retail, residential, warehousing, or other uses. shall occupy the entirety of any building

All buildings, structures, maintenance equipment, ground-based cooling and ventilation equipment, and backup-generation equipment must be at least 1,500 feet from any residential zoning-district boundary. at least 1,500 feet from the boundary of any residential zoning district

Data-center buildings may not exceed 45 feet in height; site building coverage is capped at 50 percent; impervious surface is capped at 70 percent; and at least 20 percent of the site must remain permanently landscaped open space. no Data Center building shall exceed forty-five (45) feet

Data centers and their supporting infrastructure may not be located in regulatory floodways, wetlands, or areas of documented geologic instability, and development in special flood-hazard areas requires additional floodplain analyses and mitigation. shall not be located within a regulatory floodway, wetland, or area of documented geologic instability

Applicants must provide traffic studies and construction and operational traffic plans, prevent queuing or staging in public rights-of-way, document preconstruction road conditions, and repair or reimburse the City for project-caused street damage under a City-approved agreement. repair or reimburse the City for project-caused damage

The site must provide at least one parking space per employee on the largest shift plus three visitor spaces, along with sufficient internal queuing, loading, emergency-access, and construction-staging areas. one (1) parking space per employee on the largest shift

A 25-foot landscaped buffer is required around the entire site, with at least 80 percent year-round opacity, trees planted at a rate of one per 30 linear feet, and continuing maintenance obligations. minimum landscape buffer of twenty-five (25) feet

Exterior lighting must be full-cutoff, fully shielded, directed downward, and limited to 0.1 footcandle at external perimeter property lines; nonessential lighting must be reduced by at least 50 percent from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. does not exceed 0.1 footcandle

Applicants must demonstrate that electric, water, wastewater, and stormwater capacity will be available without adverse effects on existing customers, and must fund and complete any required utility improvements before operations begin. enhancements or improvements required

Applicants must submit projected daily and peak water demand, supplier certification, water-efficiency and recycling documentation, and proof that needed water or wastewater improvements will be paid for by the applicant. Projected daily and peak water demand

Liquid-cooled equipment must use a closed-loop system; cooling water must come from a public or semipublic system rather than a private well; and cooling discharges require treatment and compliance with applicable pretreatment and discharge rules. closed-loop system

Backup generators are restricted to emergency or backup use, except for testing and commissioning. Testing is limited to once per week per unit, Monday through Friday from noon to 5:00 p.m., and nonemergency testing and maintenance may not exceed 50 hours per unit per year or a lower legal limit. not exceed fifty (50) hours per calendar year per unit

Data-center operations may not exceed 55 dBA at any external perimeter property line, and preconstruction, postconstruction, annual, and complaint-triggered noise analyses are required at the operator's expense. shall not exceed 55 dBA

The facility may not cause thermal discomfort, hazards, or property damage beyond the site, and thermal discharge may not raise ambient temperature at any external perimeter property line above naturally occurring conditions. shall not raise the ambient temperature

A professional-engineer-prepared decommissioning plan and financial assurance, such as a bond or letter of credit sufficient for third-party removal and restoration, must be provided before construction begins. financial assurance

Material expansions or modifications that increase floor area, electrical or water demand, generation or storage capacity, cooling capacity, emissions, noise, or equipment require prior written approval and, when impacts or capacity increase, an amended conditional use permit. No Material Expansion or Modification shall occur without prior written determination

Ownership, operator, lessee, or controlling-interest transfers require at least 60 days' advance notice, written assumption of permit conditions, updated plans and contacts, confirmation or replacement of financial assurance, and proof of the successor's financial and technical capacity. at least sixty (60) days’ advance notice

Operators must submit annual compliance certifications covering water, wastewater, electricity, generators, emissions, noise, lighting, landscaping, incidents, complaints, permits, and financial assurance, and must retain operational and monitoring records for at least five years. annual compliance certification

The City may inspect sites and records, require immediate curtailment or shutdown for imminent threats, recover inspection and enforcement costs, and impose stop-work orders, civil penalties, injunctions, financial-assurance draws, or permit suspension or revocation for violations. immediate curtailment, shutdown, evacuation, or corrective action

The City may hire consultants to review a conditional-use application and related plans, with all consultant expenses charged to the applicant and potentially secured through an escrow deposit at filing. expenses incurred by the City's hiring of a consultant shall be borne by the applicant

Data centers are expressly allowed to apply for a conditional-use permit in the I-2 Heavy Industrial District, rather than being prohibited citywide; they are prohibited in other zoning districts. eligible for consideration only as a Conditional Use in the I-2 zoning district

The 50,000-square-foot server-building limit does not apply to supporting infrastructure such as substations, generators, battery storage, cooling equipment, water tanks, and other utility structures, allowing substantial infrastructure to be built beyond the server-building cap. This limitation shall not apply to Data Center Supporting Infrastructure

Utility service facilities that are exempt from local zoning under KRS 100.324 are not regulated by the data-center zoning provisions, although the applicant must disclose those facilities. Nothing in this section shall be construed to regulate a service facility exempt from local zoning

Backup power using diesel, natural gas, or battery-energy-storage systems is expressly allowed at data centers, subject to limits on when generators may operate and when they may be tested. Backup power generation using diesel fuel, natural gas, or Battery Energy Storage Systems are allowed

The proposed water-capacity ordinance creates a defined approval process for temporary and permanent variances from the data-center water-demand limits, providing a route to obtain additional capacity if the required system, fire-protection, reserve, and customer-impact evaluations are satisfied. creates application and approval procedures for temporary and permanent variances

A data-center project that already has a valid building permit or has made substantial expenditures before a zoning amendment takes effect may be completed despite becoming nonconforming under the amendment. Projects made nonconforming ... may be completed

Data centers are allowed only as conditional uses in the I-2 Heavy Industrial district and are prohibited in all other zoning districts.

A data center requires approval of a conditional use permit from the Board of Zoning Adjustment, following public notice and an opportunity for the public to be heard.

The application must cover the entire data center site and the maximum full-buildout capacity of all phases; applicants may not classify the facility as another use, divide it into separate projects, or phase it to avoid the ordinance’s requirements.

The combined gross floor area of all server buildings under common ownership, control, management, or operation may not exceed 50,000 square feet, including mezzanines and raised-floor areas.

Server buildings must be used entirely for the data center; they may not contain unrelated office, retail, residential, warehousing, or other uses.

Conditional-use applications must include extensive documentation, including a detailed site plan, traffic study, utility and infrastructure plan, water and wastewater plan, noise plan, waste-management plan, fire and emergency-response plan, permit information, and a decommissioning plan.

All data center structures and specified supporting equipment must be at least 1,500 feet from the boundary of any residential zoning district.

Data center buildings may not exceed 45 feet in height, building coverage may not exceed 50 percent of the site, impervious surface may not exceed 70 percent, and at least 20 percent of the site must remain permanently landscaped open space.

Data centers and specified supporting facilities may not be located in regulatory floodways, wetlands, or areas of documented geologic instability, and development in special flood hazard areas must satisfy additional floodplain and engineering requirements.

The site must provide at least one parking space per employee on the largest shift plus three visitor spaces, as well as sufficient internal queuing, loading, emergency access, and construction staging areas so vehicles do not use public rights-of-way.

Applicants must submit traffic information and may be required to document existing road conditions and repair or reimburse the City for project-caused damage to City streets.

A 25-foot landscape buffer is required along every external site boundary, with at least 80 percent year-round opacity, specified tree and shrub planting, and continuing maintenance obligations.

Security fencing must be located behind required landscaping; certain fencing types may not be visible from public streets or external property lines.

Exterior lighting must be fully shielded and directed downward, must not exceed 0.1 footcandle at any external property line, and generally must be reduced by at least 50 percent between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Applicants must demonstrate that electric, gas, water, wastewater, and stormwater capacity is or will be available without adversely affecting existing customers, and must fund utility enhancements needed to serve the facility.

All utility-owned or utility-operated facilities serving the data center must be disclosed, and nonexempt facilities must comply with the zoning ordinance and obtain required approvals.

Applicants must submit a water and wastewater management plan identifying daily and peak demand, water sources, supplier capacity, water-efficiency measures, recycling efforts, and infrastructure costs.

A data center site may not be located within a wellhead-protection planning area, and water-system improvements needed to serve the facility must be paid for by the applicant.

Liquid-cooled equipment must use a closed-loop system; cooling water must come from a public or semipublic water system rather than a private well; and discharges require treatment and compliance with applicable discharge requirements.

A material change in cooling technology, cooling capacity, water source, chemical treatment, or projected water demand requires prior approval as a material expansion or modification.

Diesel backup generators must meet at least EPA Tier 4 standards, generators may be used only for backup or emergency purposes except during testing or commissioning, and nonemergency testing is limited to once per week on weekdays from noon to 5:00 p.m. and no more than 50 hours per unit per year.

Generator operations must be electronically recorded, and diesel-fuel systems must address non-peak delivery, applicable safety standards, and secondary containment.

Data center operations may not exceed 55 dBA at any external property line and may not produce prohibited vibration, oscillation, or infrasound impacts.

The operator must obtain post-construction and annual noise analyses, perform additional testing when the City has a credible complaint or reasonable cause, and promptly mitigate violations.

Heat discharge and exhaust may not create thermal discomfort, hazards, or property damage beyond the site, and may not raise the ambient temperature at an external property line above naturally occurring conditions.

Applicants must submit a professional-engineer-prepared decommissioning plan covering removal costs, salvage value, removal and restoration procedures, and a timetable.

Before construction, the applicant must provide a performance bond, letter of credit, or other financial assurance sufficient for third-party decommissioning; the owner, operator, and landowner remain jointly and severally liable for decommissioning obligations.

Abandonment is defined to include permanent cessation of operations or failure to conduct lawful operations for 12 consecutive months, subject to an exception for a temporary shutdown approved in writing by the Zoning Administrator.

Any material expansion or modification that increases approved floor area, electrical demand, generator or storage capacity, water demand, wastewater discharge, cooling capacity, emissions, equipment, noise, or off-site impacts requires prior written City determination and, when applicable, an amended conditional use permit.

Phasing may not be used to avoid cumulative review of a material expansion or modification.

Changes in ownership, operation, leasing, controlling interest, or responsible entity require at least 60 days’ advance notice, assumption of permit conditions, updated emergency plans and contacts, confirmation or replacement of financial assurance, and proof of successor capacity to comply.

The owner and operator must submit an annual compliance certification addressing water use, wastewater, electricity, generators, emissions, noise, lighting, landscaping, emergencies, complaints, permits, and financial assurance.

The City and its consultants may inspect the site and review records, and operational, monitoring, complaint, and incident records must be retained for at least five years.

The City may require curtailment, shutdown, evacuation, or corrective action for imminent threats and may recover inspection, testing, engineering, legal, emergency-response, and enforcement costs.

The City may hire consultants to review a data center application, and the applicant must pay those costs, potentially through an escrow deposit required when the application is filed.

A separate water-capacity measure establishes an aggregate maximum authorized demand of two million gallons per day for data centers and other high-water-demand digital infrastructure facilities served by the City water system.

The water-capacity measure requires applications for temporary or permanent variances, evaluation of system capacity, fire protection, emergency reserves, and effects on existing customers, with applicants responsible for hydraulic modeling, engineering review, infrastructure improvements, and other City evaluation or accommodation costs.

Data centers are expressly eligible for approval as a conditional use in the I-2 Heavy Industrial District, creating a defined zoning pathway for development, although they are prohibited in all other zoning districts and require Board of Zoning Adjustment approval. eligible for consideration only as a Conditional Use in the I-2 zoning district

The 50,000-square-foot limit applies only to server buildings; supporting infrastructure such as substations, transformers, generators, fuel storage, battery systems, cooling equipment, and water tanks is excluded from that limit, allowing substantial infrastructure beyond the server-building cap. This limitation shall not apply to Data Center Supporting Infrastructure

A conditional-use application must cover the entire data-center site and the maximum proposed full-buildout capacity of all phases, providing a framework for approving a multistage project through one comprehensive application. The application and approval shall encompass the entire Data Center Site and the maximum proposed full-buildout capacity of all phases

The ordinance provides a formal expansion and modification process: changes that increase approved capacity or add buildings, parcels, phases, generators, cooling units, batteries, substations, or fuel storage may proceed after written zoning review and, when impacts or capacity increase, an amended conditional-use permit. No Material Expansion or Modification shall occur without prior written determination

The required utility plan expressly accommodates the electric, natural-gas, water, wastewater, transmission, interconnection, and other infrastructure needed to serve a data center. Utility-owned or utility-operated facilities exempt from local zoning under KRS 100.234 are not regulated by this section, although they must be disclosed. Nothing in this section shall be construed to regulate a service facility exempt from local zoning

Backup power is expressly allowed using diesel, natural gas, or battery energy-storage systems, subject to emissions, testing, fuel-storage, and emergency-use limits. Backup power generation using diesel fuel, natural gas, or Battery Energy Storage Systems are allowed

The proposed water-capacity ordinance establishes an aggregate maximum authorized demand of two million gallons per day for data centers and other high-water-demand digital infrastructure facilities and creates temporary and permanent variance procedures, providing a defined mechanism for obtaining additional capacity. aggregate maximum authorized demand of two million gallons per day

The water-capacity ordinance allows applicants to pursue capacity even when extraordinary demand requires additional analysis or infrastructure, provided the applicant pays for hydraulic modeling, engineering review, infrastructure improvements, and related evaluation costs. requires applicants to pay the costs associated with hydraulic modeling

The general site-plan rules impose a written decision deadline of 20 working days after receipt of a properly prepared plan, with a shorter 10-working-day deadline after resubmission, providing a defined timetable for site-plan review. The Zoning Administrator shall act within twenty (20) working days

A data-center project that becomes nonconforming because of a later zoning amendment may be completed if it had a valid building permit or substantial expenditures before the amendment took effect, providing protection for projects already authorized or substantially committed. Projects made nonconforming ... may be completed if a valid building permit was issued