Davidson County's proposed amendment would allow data centers only in the LI, HI, MX-C, and PEC zoning districts.

Under the proposed Davidson County amendment, data centers would require approval by the governing body rather than automatic approval.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require a site plan identifying buildings, parking, emergency or supplemental power facilities, and all other improvements.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require an acoustical sound study, landscaping and buffering plan, exterior lighting plan, emergency operations plan, vibration-impact study, decommissioning plan, financial assurance, an NCDOT commercial driveway permit, and certification of expected power use.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would limit data-center noise to 55 dBA at the lot line and would prohibit the concurrent C-weighted level from exceeding the A-weighted level by more than 20 decibels.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require a pre-construction ambient-noise study, future-noise modeling, mitigation plans, and a post-construction acoustic study before a certificate of occupancy.

Under the proposed Davidson County amendment, a verified noise complaint could require the owner to pay for an additional acoustic study by a mutually agreed third-party engineer.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require a 100-foot vegetative buffer along exterior property lines adjoining residential or agricultural parcels, including buffers around buildings, mechanical equipment, cooling systems, loading areas, generators, substations, batteries, and power-generation facilities.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would allow the required vegetative buffer to be reduced to 50 feet only if a 10-foot-high, 2:1 berm with evergreen landscaping reaching at least 20 feet at maturity is provided.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would impose a 200-foot setback from exterior project property lines for all data-center-related components.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would impose a 500-foot setback from residentially or agriculturally zoned property.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would impose a 1,000-foot setback from property containing a learning institution, place of worship, or assisted-living facility.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would limit lighting to 30 feet in vehicular areas and 15 feet in non-vehicular areas, prohibit lighting in required buffer areas, and require fully shielded downward-directed fixtures.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require an emergency operations plan approved by Davidson County Emergency Services, with the department's comments implemented.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require a vibration-impact study and prohibit vibration that is discernible without instruments beyond the property line or exceeds 2 inches per second of particle velocity at or beyond the property line.

Under the proposed Davidson County amendment, a verified vibration complaint could require the owner to pay for an additional third-party vibration study.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would treat a data-processing use as discontinued after 12 continuous months without operation and could require removal of equipment and site restoration under the approved decommissioning plan.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require a decommissioning and site-restoration plan describing equipment removal, site stabilization, and restoration.

Before a zoning permit, the proposed Davidson County amendment would require financial assurance for decommissioning equal to 1.25 times estimated decommissioning costs minus 50 percent of salvageable value, or $75,000, whichever is greater.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require the financial assurance to remain effective until the site is decommissioned and restored, with acceptable forms including a surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require access from a public street built to NCDOT standards and a successfully issued NCDOT commercial driveway permit.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require closed-loop or other low-water or zero-water cooling and prohibit open-loop and air-cooled systems.

The proposed Davidson County amendment would require connection to public water, prohibit private wells, and permit septic only for domestic or office use, not for data-processing or ancillary-system disposal.

Violations of the proposed Davidson County data-center standards would be enforceable as ordinance violations, including continuing daily penalties and a possible heavy-impact-land-use penalty of $500 per day.

Davidson County staff proposed tiering facilities by power demand: edge facilities under 5 MW, enterprise facilities from 5 to 20 MW, colocation facilities from 20 to 100 MW, and hyperscale and hyperscale-AI facilities over 100 MW.

Under the proposed Davidson County framework, colocation facilities would require special-approval treatment in HI, MX-C, PEC, and possibly LI, while hyperscale and hyperscale-AI facilities would require special approval in HI and PEC.

North Carolina Senate Bill 730 would require a site sound assessment before approval of a new data center, covering residences and schools within 500 feet of the property boundary.

North Carolina Senate Bill 730 would ban evaporative or open-loop cooling systems statewide beginning December 1, 2026, if enacted.

North Carolina Senate Bill 730 would prohibit eminent-domain use by data-center developers, require data centers of at least 100 MW to enter direct utility contracts preventing cost shifting, and impose additional siting and operating requirements.

North Carolina House Bill 1063 would require large-scale data centers to use on-site clean generation, pay cost-based electric rates, assume infrastructure responsibilities, and make specified disclosures and reports.

Buncombe County prohibits cryptocurrency-mining operations.

Buncombe County requires data centers to conduct a pre-construction sound study establishing a noise baseline that the facility and associated equipment cannot exceed.

Buncombe County limits data-center noise to 55 dBA at property lines at all times.

Buncombe County requires data-center operations to be enclosed and requires mechanical operations in certain commercial districts to be concealed from road frontages.

Buncombe County prohibits generator maintenance or testing between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.

Edgecombe County requires data-center structures to be set back 100 feet from lot lines, principal buildings to be 500 feet from residential zoning lots containing a dwelling, and data centers to be 1,000 feet from existing or approved schools or day-care facilities.

Madison County allows small data centers under 10,000 square feet of server space in commercial districts but requires industrial zoning for larger facilities.

Madison County requires a special-use permit for data centers and a permit application noise study describing anticipated noise and proposed mitigation.

Madison County limits data-center structures to 35 feet in height.

York County requires data-center applications, and renewals every five years, to include utility letters confirming sufficient electric and water capacity and stating full-capacity consumption.

York County prohibits data centers from using wells for water supply.

York County permits generator testing only Monday through Friday between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., for no more than one hour per week.

York County requires a 50-foot landscaped perimeter buffer around data-center developments.

Loudoun County restricts data-center generators next to residential development to backup or emergency power use.

Albemarle County requires data-center cooling systems to use closed-loop or recycled water.

Fairfax County triggers special review for data centers above 40,000 square feet in commercial zones or 80,000 square feet in industrial zones and prohibits them within one mile of Metro stations.

Harrisonburg requires special-use permits and public hearings for data centers in industrial zones.

Chandler, Arizona requires new data centers to undergo a public-hearing process, limits them to specified districts, and requires noise-mitigation studies and generator-testing restrictions.

Chandler, Arizona limits water use to 115 gallons per day per 1,000 square feet.

San Angelo, Texas limits closed-loop cooling's initial fill to 8 gallons per square foot within 12 months.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission requires a permit for industrial users exceeding 100,000 gallons of water per day.

Kent County, Delaware imposes a 55 dB noise cap and requires a funded facility-removal and site-restoration plan as a condition of approval.

Albemarle County limits data-center noise to 60 dB during the day and 55 dB at night.

South Carolina's proposed statewide bills would limit data-center noise to 60 dBA from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and 50 dBA from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

Federal EPA rules limit covered stationary emergency engines to 100 hours per year for maintenance, testing, and non-emergency use, with a 50-hour sublimit for non-emergency use.

Virginia's 2026 DEQ revision would require Tier 4-equivalent controls for hyperscale generator fleets and annual stack testing of 20 to 25 percent of units.

The Pennsylvania model ordinance requires EPA Tier 4 generator standards, annual testing, and public reporting.

Albemarle County limits routine generator testing to weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Troup County, Georgia requires a 1,500-foot setback from residences.

Jackson County, Georgia requires a 1,000-foot setback from residences and a 150-foot setback from major roads.

Fort Worth, Texas proposed a 300-foot data-center buffer in connection with a project-specific commitment.

New York imposed a temporary one-year statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data-center construction through executive action in July 2026.

Surry County, North Carolina enacted a two-year moratorium on data-center development and required a steering committee to study the issue during the pause.

Greensboro proposed a 120-day moratorium on facilities exceeding 10 MW.

Alamance County proposed a six-month moratorium on data-center development.

Yadkin County considered a one-year moratorium on data-center development.

Palm Beach County, Florida's zoning commission recommended a one-year pause on data-center development.

Fort Worth, Texas began considering a 90-day moratorium on data centers.

Louisville, Kentucky advanced a moratorium proposal from committee for consideration.

New Jersey requires facilities of at least 50 MW to cover at least 85 percent of projected power costs for ten years.

Virginia imposes a $0.011-per-kilowatt-hour energy-consumption tax on data centers, subject to a $600 million annual statewide cap.

Wisconsin requires large-load customers to cover the full cost of infrastructure built to serve them through an adopted utility tariff.

Missoula County, Montana requires cryptocurrency-mining operations to develop or purchase new renewable energy offsetting 100 percent of their electricity consumption.

Prince William County's data-center overlay zones impose 24-hour noise limits, architectural-screening requirements, and buffer standards.

Limerick Township's data-center overlay requires compliance with detailed noise, woodland-preservation, water-use, and emergency-access standards.

New Albany, Ohio paired a 15-year, 100-percent property-tax abatement with developer commitments for stormwater mitigation, scholarships, and cultural programs.

Under Davidson County’s current zoning treatment, data centers are treated as warehouse uses and may be allowed by right in the Light Industrial and Heavy Industrial districts.

The proposed Davidson County use table lists Edge and Enterprise data centers as permitted uses in multiple districts, including commercial, office-institutional, highway commercial, light industrial, heavy industrial, mixed-use, planned employment, and certain conditional-residential districts.

The proposed use table allows Colocation data centers through special approval in the Light Industrial, Heavy Industrial, Mixed-Use Commercial, and Planned Employment Center districts.

The proposed use table allows Hyperscale and Hyperscale AI data centers through special approval in the Heavy Industrial and Planned Employment Center districts.

The proposed Davidson County standards do not add a separate minimum lot-size requirement; the applicable zoning district’s existing minimum lot size controls.

The proposed landscaping rules do not require a buffer when the adjoining property is commercial or industrial.

The proposed decommissioning rules generally do not require removal of the primary building structure unless the approved decommissioning plan specifically requires it.

North Carolina retains tax exemptions for qualifying data-center equipment and capital investments, even though the 2026 budget repealed the sales-tax exemption for electricity purchases.

New Albany, Ohio paired a data-center development agreement with a 15-year, 100-percent property-tax abatement, conditioned on commitments including stormwater mitigation, scholarships, and cultural programs.

Fairfax County, Virginia permits data centers by right in selected high-intensity commercial and industrial zones, with additional review triggered only above specified building-size thresholds.

Prince William County, Virginia created data-center overlay districts, including the Digital Gateway, that facilitate large-scale rezoning for data-center parks.

Mesa, Arizona uses a data-center overlay approach that encourages clustering facilities in an advanced-manufacturing zone and can provide infrastructure-capacity review and development-agreement flexibility.

Federal EPA rules allow stationary emergency generators at covered facilities up to 100 operating hours per year for maintenance, testing, and non-emergency use, subject to a 50-hour sub-limit for non-emergency operation.

Virginia retains its existing sales-tax exemption for data centers while imposing a separate energy-consumption tax.