Data centers are specifically classified as information-technology and software-service uses. They are not permitted in the R-80, R-60, R-40, or Village Center Core districts; they are allowed by right only in the Village Commercial, Commercial, and Industrial districts.

A special permit is required for a commercial or industrial data-center building with at least 10,000 square feet of gross floor area or at least 25 parking spaces. The same requirement applies to additions that bring a building to at least 10,000 square feet or to a freestanding building that brings combined building area to that threshold.

After 10,000 square feet or more has received a special permit, another special permit is required for each addition or new building producing at least 5,000 additional square feet. An addition or new building smaller than 1,000 square feet does not require that additional special permit.

Site-plan approval by the Planning Board is required for nonresidential development of at least 2,500 square feet of floor area or 10 or more parking spaces, and no building permit or covered use may proceed without the required approval.

Site-plan applications require multiple copies, filing with several Town departments, application fees, and potentially applicant-funded professional technical review. Plans may need engineering, topographic, stormwater, erosion-control, landscaping, lighting, parking, traffic, utility, and wastewater information.

Data centers must comply with district dimensional standards, including minimum lot area and frontage, front/side/rear setbacks, maximum building coverage, and maximum building height. In the Industrial District, for example, the table requires 45,000 square feet of lot area for a single-family dwelling entry but otherwise establishes a 150-foot frontage, 40-foot front setback, 30-foot side setback, 40-foot rear setback, 33% maximum building coverage, and 50-foot maximum building height for applicable nonresidential development.

Commercial and industrial properties adjoining residential districts must provide landscaped buffers outside street areas: generally 50 feet for commercial properties and 100 feet for industrial properties. Properties adjoining residential properties must also reserve a 20-foot screened buffer.

Office and data-center uses must provide nonresidential parking at a minimum rate of one space per 200 square feet of commercial or office floor area, together with required loading spaces. Parking must meet paving, access, drainage, maintenance, lighting, landscaping, and striping requirements; parking areas larger than one-quarter acre require Planning Board design review.

Special-permit and site-plan projects may be required to provide more parking, less parking, or modified driveway arrangements based on Planning Board review, studies, and expert analysis. Maximum parking for covered developments is limited to 200% of the zoning minimum.

Nonresidential or multifamily projects requiring special permits or site-plan approval must comply with performance standards addressing lighting, noise, land disturbance, stormwater, traffic, pedestrian and bicycle safety, parking location, aesthetics, utilities, security, emergency systems, and fiscal impacts. The applicant must provide a fiscal analysis of municipal service and capital costs.

Performance standards limit noise from a covered development to no more than 10 dBA above ambient sound at the receiving property boundary. The Planning Board or special-permit authority may also regulate loading, construction, demolition, and equipment-operation hours.

Outdoor lighting is subject to limits on glare, light trespass, fixture height, shielding, and illumination. Lighting generally cannot exceed 0.1 vertical footcandle beyond the property line, and outdoor lighting is generally prohibited from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., subject to operating-use and security exceptions.

Covered developments must provide traffic and transportation documentation. Projects exceeding 25,000 square feet require a qualified traffic study and transportation-demand-management plan, and may require traffic mitigation, level-of-service improvements, dangerous-intersection mitigation, and off-site improvements.

Electrical, cable, and telecommunications services for covered developments must be installed underground. The project must also demonstrate adequate water capacity, wastewater treatment or disposal, site security approved by the Police Chief, and fire-alarm-system capacity.

A certificate of occupancy is required before a new, reconstructed, or enlarged building may be occupied. The certificate depends on completion of the building, lot, required site improvements, safety requirements, and zoning compliance.

A building permit expires if construction does not begin within six months or is not completed within two years. An approved site plan is valid for two years, and failure to begin construction and proceed continuously may require a new submission.

In the Water Resource Protection Overlay District, any use rendering more than 15% or 2,500 square feet of a lot impervious, whichever is greater, requires a Planning Board special permit and a permanent groundwater and surface-water recharge system.

In the Water Resource Protection Overlay District, storage of liquid hazardous materials or petroleum products is restricted and generally requires above-ground, impervious, contained storage meeting specified containment standards. Other hazardous-material activities beyond normal household quantities require a Planning Board special permit and a hazardous-materials management plan.

In the Water Resource Protection Overlay District, removal of soil, loam, gravel, or other minerals within four feet of the historic high groundwater table is prohibited unless an exception applies, such as building-foundation excavation, utility installation, or authorized wetland restoration.

Earth removal anywhere in Norton generally requires a Planning Board special permit, with operational limits including weekday hours from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., truck-routing requirements, restoration obligations, environmental controls, and a performance bond. Yard grading by an individual homeowner of no more than 50 cubic yards is exempt.

Information technology and software services, including data centers are permitted by right in the Village Commercial, Commercial, and Industrial districts. They are not permitted in the residential or Village Center Core districts.

Commercial or industrial buildings used for data centers may proceed through a special-permit process when they reach 10,000 square feet or 25 parking spaces, rather than being categorically prohibited. A building addition under 1,000 square feet does not require that special permit regardless of the combined building area.

Multiple commercial and industrial buildings may be developed on one lot in the Commercial and Industrial districts, subject to required setbacks, a minimum 15-foot distance between buildings, and a maximum total building coverage of 33% of the lot.

The bylaw allows several users in Commercial and Industrial districts to provide required parking jointly, if a legally binding agreement guarantees the spaces for each user and shared access is provided. Required parking for nonresidential uses may also be located within 500 feet of the use when it is on land owned by the same owner.

Lawfully existing data-center uses and structures are protected as nonconforming uses or structures. Changes, extensions, reconstruction, or alterations may be approved by special permit when the Zoning Board of Appeals finds they will not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing use or structure.

For nonresidential development, the special-permit and site-plan framework requires consideration of adequate utilities and public services, including water capacity, wastewater treatment and disposal, fire-alarm capacity, and underground electrical, cable, and telecommunications services.