Tier III data centers—facilities with maximum electrical demand exceeding 10 MW—are prohibited in every zoning district.

Tier I data centers over 500 kW and up to 2 MW, and Tier II data centers over 2 MW and up to 10 MW, require a Planning Board special permit; approval is available only in the zoning districts identified in the amended use table.

Tier I and Tier II facilities must satisfy the general special-permit standards plus additional discretionary review criteria concerning electric, water, wastewater, cooling, noise, air quality, site design, public safety, infrastructure, and municipal-service impacts.

Facilities at 500 kW or less are exempt from the data-center special-permit requirements only when they qualify as Tier 0 incidental or small-scale computing facilities and remain regulated under the underlying principal or accessory use.

A facility's tier is based on its maximum designed electrical demand at full build-out, including servers, cooling, lighting, building systems, batteries, all tenants, and qualifying on-site generation, rather than current use or initial utilization.

Coordinated buildings, parcels, phases, tenants, or ownership interests must be treated as one development for electrical-demand calculations and may not be divided to avoid a more restrictive tier.

Applicants must submit a professionally prepared Capacity and Utility Impact Report covering full-build-out electrical demand, energy use, infrastructure upgrades and costs, water and wastewater demand, cooling methods, and drought or system-stress mitigation.

Applicants must obtain written verification from Shrewsbury electric and applicable water and sewer authorities that the proposed demands can be accommodated without compromising reliability, capacity, service levels, fire protection, or future needs of existing customers.

The Planning Board may impose a maximum approved electrical demand and maximum daily, monthly, seasonal, or annual water-use limits; operating above those limits requires a special-permit modification.

The Planning Board may condition phased construction on proof that adequate electrical capacity exists or can reasonably be provided for each phase.

Continuous operational noise must generally remain at or below 50 dBC from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and 45 dBC from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., measured at the nearest sensitive receptor or another designated compliance point.

The Planning Board may require professional noise studies, including analysis of low-frequency and tonal noise, cumulative impacts, generators, and full build-out conditions, and may require post-construction monitoring and mitigation.

Applicants must identify all backup generators, including their number, size, fuel, location, exhaust systems, testing schedule, and estimated emissions, and must document compliance with federal and Massachusetts air-quality requirements.

Buildings, cooling equipment, generators, transformers, substations, and other mechanical or electrical infrastructure must meet underlying dimensional requirements and be screened or located away from public ways, adjoining properties, residences, and sensitive receptors where practicable.

The Planning Board may require enhanced landscaping, preservation of mature vegetation, berms, fencing, walls, lighting controls, and other buffering or screening measures.

The Planning Board may require infrastructure improvements, construction phasing, emergency-response measures, noise and water monitoring, and electrical-demand reporting as conditions of approval.

The Planning Board may require annual operational reports covering electrical demand, water use, cooling, wastewater, noise, generators, system changes, facility capacity, and violations; quarterly or other enhanced reporting may be required during the first five years.

Any modification that materially increases electrical demand, water use, wastewater discharge, noise, air emissions, generator capacity, cooling equipment, or other operational impacts requires a new or modified special permit.

A Tier II special permit may be limited to a term of up to five years and may require renewal based on continued compliance and review of utility, environmental, and operational impacts.

A change in ownership or operator does not remove compliance obligations, and a change in operator must be reported to the Planning Board before operations begin.

Lawfully existing facilities do not need new zoning approval solely because the bylaw is adopted, and existing facilities at 2 MW or less are not required solely by adoption to meet Tier II or Tier III requirements.

Tier 0 facilities with maximum projected electrical demand of 500 kW or less are regulated under the underlying principal or accessory use and are not subject to the Data Center Special Permit requirements.

Incidental computing equipment and clearly accessory server rooms are excluded from the Data Center provisions when they are accessory to a permitted principal use.

Tier I and Tier II Data Centers may be established by obtaining a Planning Board Special Permit in the zoning districts identified in the amended Table I; Tier III facilities are prohibited.

When site-plan review is otherwise required, the Special Permit and site-plan review processes may be consolidated to the extent permitted by law.

On-site solar photovoltaic generation that cannot supply the facility during utility interruptions is excluded from the electrical-demand calculation, which can help a facility remain within a lower regulatory tier.

Lawfully existing Electronic Data Storage Facilities do not need a new zoning approval solely because the bylaw is adopted.

A lawfully existing facility with maximum electrical demand of 2 MW or less is not required to comply with the new Tier II or Tier III requirements solely because the bylaw is adopted.

The Planning Board may approve phased development and condition each phase on demonstrating that adequate electrical capacity exists or can reasonably be provided for that phase.

The Planning Board may establish maximum approved electrical demand and water-use limits as Special Permit conditions, providing an authorized operating capacity subject to those limits.

A Special Permit runs with the land and remains binding on successors, assigns, tenants, and operators, so a change in ownership or operator does not require the facility to obtain a new permit solely because of that change.

For Tier II facilities, the Planning Board may grant a Special Permit term of up to five years, and renewal may not be denied or materially modified except on the basis of reasonably related standards and impacts.