Information technology and data processing facilities are allowed only as a conditional use in the I-1 Light Industrial District and are prohibited in the AG, CD, C-1, C-2, I-2, R-1, R-2, and FP districts (district use table).

A data center requires a Conditional Use Permit involving Planning and Zoning Commission review, public notice, mailed notice to affected property owners within 1,000 feet, newspaper publication, posted notice, and a public hearing; posted notice must be provided at least 15 days before the hearing (conditional-use hearing requirements).

Data centers must be at least 200 feet from every adjacent lot line and at least 300 feet from the nearest residential structure (setback and height requirements).

Data centers may not exceed 35 feet in height or two floors above ground, including antennas, mechanical equipment, roof peaks, and similar items (height limits).

When adjacent to residential or commercial land, at least 50 feet of the required setback must be maintained as a landscaped buffer with screening trees, and the vegetation and natural features must be maintained under an approved landscape maintenance plan (landscaped buffer requirements).

Data center applications must include detailed site-plan information, including property boundaries, facility footprints and heights, data halls, cooling systems, substations, transformers, backup power, fuel storage, utilities, lighting, access, emergency equipment, and transmission or interconnection facilities (site plan requirements).

Applicants must submit a tree and natural-resource preservation plan and a separate landscaping, buffering, screening, and tree-preservation plan addressing vegetation removal, replacement plantings, screening features, and ongoing maintenance (tree-preservation plan).

Applicants must submit a professional hydrology report addressing existing and post-development drainage, runoff, peak discharges, downstream impacts, flooding, erosion, sedimentation, water quality, and proposed stormwater controls (hydrology report requirements).

Applicants must submit an environmental impact report prepared by qualified professionals covering construction and operational effects such as noise, lighting, air emissions, water demand, wastewater, soils, wetlands, groundwater, vegetation, wildlife, energy demand, cumulative impacts, and mitigation measures (environmental report requirements).

Data centers may use only closed-loop or air-cooled systems for equipment cooling; evaporative cooling is prohibited in all forms, including direct, indirect, hybrid, supplemental, backup, cooling towers, mist or spray systems, and cooling ponds (cooling restrictions).

Facilities using closed-loop cooling must submit a Water Use Plan describing cooling-water use and additives, average and peak consumption, water sources, conservation measures, wastewater generation and disposal, and drought or water-shortage contingencies (Water Use Plan requirements).

Before approval, applicants must demonstrate that emergency-service providers have sufficient personnel, equipment, training, water supplies, and technical resources to respond to foreseeable facility incidents, including generators, hazardous materials, electrical failures, and cooling failures (emergency-response capability requirement).

Data centers must provide an emergency operations and response plan covering shutdown procedures, fire detection and suppression, hazardous materials, fuel storage, emergency access, 24-hour contacts, utility failures, backup power, and cooling failures; the plan must be updated at least annually after operations begin (emergency plan requirements).

Decommissioning may not begin without a decommissioning permit. The application must identify hazardous materials and major infrastructure, describe removal and disposal methods, address spill and environmental risks, and provide restoration and erosion-control measures (decommissioning permit requirement).

Expanding or modifying an approved data center is subject to new application processing; changes to permits or approved plans receive applicable hearing and procedural requirements, including public notice and hearings where required (permit modification process).

The intended use may not begin and buildings may not be occupied until the required zoning or conditional-use approval, all Order requirements, and additional permit conditions have been fulfilled (no occupancy before requirements are fulfilled).

The County may charge application and administration fees and require applicants to pay for professional consulting services, including engineering, soils, environmental, noise, structural, and legal review (fees and consulting costs).

Sites using four or more permanent standby generators must place the generators and associated fuel storage at least 100 feet from adjacent lot lines, screen them, use paved or concrete surfaces, and include them in an approved site plan; fuel deliveries generally are limited to 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (large-scale standby-generator requirements).

Large-scale standby generators may operate only during emergencies, must stop within two hours after primary power is restored, may be tested only from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and require on-site testing and inspection logs (standby generator operating limits).

Information Technology and Data Processing Facilities are allowed as a conditional use in the I-1 Light Industrial District, allowing data centers to be proposed there through the conditional-use process. They are not authorized in the other listed districts.

The order establishes a specific approval framework for data centers, including required site-plan, landscaping, hydrology, environmental, water-use, emergency-response, and decommissioning materials. All applications for approval must address these subjects.

A data-center development may occupy multiple lots, with the required 200-foot setback measured from the outer boundary of the combined development area rather than separately from each lot. Multiple lots developed together are permitted.

Conditional-use permits do not expire automatically; they remain effective unless the permitted use is discontinued, modified without permission, or the permit is revoked. Conditional use permits shall not expire.

Conditional-use permits are transferable to successors and assigns unless the individual permit provides otherwise, allowing an approved data-center project to change ownership or operators without automatically losing its permit. Conditional use permits are transferable.

A permitted project may be developed in phases or stages, with applicable zoning conditions applied to each phase, if the required phased plans and improvement schedules are approved. Development constructed in phases or stages may therefore proceed incrementally.

Changes to an approved project may be treated as part of the original permit when there is common ownership, the affected property is contiguous with the original permitted property, and the change continues or supports the original use. Public notice and hearing requirements still apply. Considered as part of the original permit.

The county may allow a permitted use or building occupancy to begin before every requirement is completed when circumstances beyond the permit holder’s control make waiting unreasonable, provided satisfactory security, such as a performance bond, is supplied and a compliance schedule is imposed. The Planning and Zoning Commission may authorize commencement of the intended use.

Lawfully existing data-center uses that later become nonconforming because of a zoning amendment or map change may continue until they are abandoned or changed to a conforming use. The nonconforming use may continue until abandoned.

Standby generators may operate as an accessory use to provide emergency power, including at sites with four or more generators. Generator locations, screening, testing, fuel storage, and site-plan requirements apply, and generators may not replace or supplement primary power during non-emergency periods. The rules do not impose a four-generator maximum, so additional generators may be used if otherwise permitted. No amendment limiting the number of generators to four.

Electric power, telephone, telegraph, cable television, gas, water, and sewer lines located within a public right-of-way do not require a zoning or conditional-use permit under the listed exemption, simplifying placement of qualifying utility infrastructure. Listed utility lines are covered by the exemption.