Data centers are listed as special condition uses in the Light Industrial (I-L) district, requiring special-use approval rather than being permitted by right. The ordinance does not list data centers as a permitted or special condition use in the Heavy Industrial (I-H) district.

Data center applications require Planning Commission review and approval, including review under the city’s conditional-use and site-plan procedures.

Data center buildings are limited to 100 feet in height. A waiver up to 165 feet requires a written site-plan application, engineering, architectural, and safety analyses, and potentially an independent third-party review at the applicant’s expense.

Data center principal buildings, accessory structures, and electric substations must generally be set back 250 feet from property lines and public road rights-of-way, and 500 feet from any existing residential dwelling outside the project parcel.

Parking lots must be at least 50 feet from public road rights-of-way and all property lines.

A data center must provide at least one parking space per employee on the largest shift plus three visitor spaces.

A data center must provide at least one loading bay, located on one facade and designed to avoid traffic obstructions while preserving emergency access.

Community noise equivalent levels may not exceed 70 dBA at property boundaries or developed-property boundaries and 65 dBA at the nearest residentially zoned property line. The Planning Commission may require a professional-engineer sound-modeling study and noise barriers or other devices.

Activities producing air, dust, smoke, glare, exhaust, or heat must be conducted so those effects are not perceptible at or beyond the property line.

Data center equipment must be housed in facilities complying with applicable Michigan Building Codes and National Fire Protection Association standards. Battery or other energy-storage systems must comply with NFPA Standard 855 or similar standards and include battery-specific fire suppression.

Applicants must obtain written verification from the applicable utility provider that adequate capacity, properly sized infrastructure, cooling resources, and safe electrical service are available and that the project will not cause electrical interference or voltage fluctuations.

Site and building lighting must be fully shielded, generally use exterior lighting no warmer than 3,000K, limit light at residential boundaries to rural-level conditions such as an average of no more than 0.2 foot-candles, and reduce non-essential overnight lighting through timers, dimming, or motion sensors.

On-site power lines of 34.5 kV or less must be buried.

Data center electric substations must generally be located to the side or rear of the principal building and outside the required front yard. Substations must be at least 200 feet from adjoining property lines and roadways and 500 feet from residential structures outside the project parcel.

Every data center must provide and maintain, or secure through an approved third party, on-site, behind-the-meter, or grid-tied generation and energy-storage systems capable of supporting critical operations.

Data centers must post 24-hour emergency contact signage at the access entrance identifying the company, owner or representative, telephone number, and local power company contact information.

Data center sites must provide screening and buffer yards. The ordinance requires a minimum 150-foot buffer along public street frontages and property lines abutting or within 500 feet of an existing residential property line, a 50-foot buffer along other property lines, and enhanced buffering with plantings on a berm where residentially zoned or occupied properties are adjacent.

Applicants must submit an environmental and community impact analysis covering operations, employees, vehicle trips, stored materials, site planning, material disposal, emergency services, water, sewage, waste, municipal impacts, and potential effects such as noise, heat, vibration, wastewater, stormwater, and electrical disturbance.

Projects using public water or sewer must provide certification that the systems can supply the project and accept its wastewater. Projects using nonpublic water must submit a detailed water-feasibility study addressing demand, source, cooling and other uses, safe yield, recycling or discharge, nearby wells and surface waters, and effects on groundwater and water quality.

Applicants must confirm that local emergency departments have the necessary chemicals and supplies for a fire emergency and must submit an Emergency Response Plan to the city police and fire departments.

A stormwater management plan must be approved by the Shiawassee County Drain Office before construction begins.

All data centers must use closed-loop cooling systems. Open-loop, once-through, and discharge-based cooling systems are prohibited.

Applicants must submit a decommissioning plan and financial assurance, such as a bond, parent-company guarantee, or irrevocable letter of credit, covering at least 100% of estimated decommissioning costs. The estimate must be updated every ten years, with increased security if costs rise.

Applicants must pay the city application fee, all engineering review fees, and all other Planning Commission review costs before final approval is granted.

Data center facilities must be properly maintained and kept free from hazards and unsafe conditions detrimental to public health, safety, or general welfare.

Data centers are recognized as a special-condition use in the industrial zoning regulations, creating a specific approval pathway through a special-use permit and Planning Commission review.

Data center accessory uses may include administrative and security facilities, fiber-optic infrastructure, generators, electrical substations, utility lines, energy-storage systems, and water or wastewater facilities on the same tract or an integrated group of adjacent parcels.

Power-generation and energy-storage systems, including natural-gas turbines, internal-combustion engines, renewable-fuel systems, and stationary batteries, are expressly permitted for data-center reliability, efficiency, sustainability, or grid-resiliency purposes.

Data centers may import, store, or export electricity through on-site, behind-the-meter, or grid-tied generation and storage systems.

Data centers must provide, maintain, or secure through a third-party energy developer or independent power producer generation and storage capable of supporting critical operations, allowing those systems to be supplied by another entity.

A data center and its associated power-generation or energy-storage facilities may be developed by separate entities under a joint-development agreement, lease, easement, or utility-interconnection agreement.

Applications and permits for the data center and associated power or storage facilities may be submitted jointly or independently by the respective developers, affiliates, or designated entities.

The ordinance allows data-center electrical substations serving the facility to be located on the same property, and does not require a buffer or screening area between an on-site substation and the data-center principal building.

The maximum data-center building height is 100 feet, with a Planning Commission waiver available for heights up to 165 feet when supported by engineering, architectural, and safety analyses and when the applicant shows that emergency response, environmental resources, and adjacent properties will not be adversely affected.

The Planning Commission may modify or waive specified enhanced-buffer and berm requirements if the written request demonstrates that the ordinance's full intent will still be met.

Existing vegetation may be used instead of new berms and plantings for landscaping and screening when approved by the Planning Commission.

The ordinance permits separate decommissioning plans and financial assurances for the data-center facility and separately owned power-generation or energy-storage facilities, allowing each owner to address its own asset scope.