Except in the M-2 General Industrial District, a data center may be established only through conditional rezoning or planned development approval.

Any new data center or alteration to an existing data center requires site plan review and approval.

Except in the M-2 District, the applicant must conduct at least one neighborhood meeting before approval.

Data centers must maintain a 100-foot setback from lot lines, except for off-street parking, vehicular accessways, and underground utilities.

A principal data-center building must be at least 500 feet from a lot line adjoining a residentially zoned lot containing an existing or approved dwelling.

A data center may not be located within 1,000 feet of an existing or approved public or private school, congregate-care use, or child day-care use.

A data center adjoining or adjacent to residential zoning must provide a Type C opaque buffer and a fully opaque fence, wall, or berm at least six feet high; this requirement cannot be reduced through conditional rezoning or planned development approval.

Data centers must limit building-mounted lighting so it does not project above the building, limit parking-lot lighting to 30 feet in height, and limit lighting within 50 feet of a residential lot containing an existing or approved dwelling to 15 feet in height.

A data center must be engineered to maintain noise at or below 60 dBA at all times, measured at the lot line. The Planning Director may require a noise study by the County's acoustical engineer at the applicant's expense.

Data centers using electricity from a public provider must submit a provider-signed attestation of adequate capacity, infrastructure, and lack of harmful electrical interference before building-permit approval and again by January 31 each year; failure to provide it is a violation that may result in a stop-work order.

Data centers using potable water from a public provider must submit a provider-signed attestation of adequate water capacity, infrastructure, and fire-protection pressure before building-permit approval and again by January 31 each year; failure to provide it is a violation that may result in a stop-work order.

On-site power-generation equipment and fuel storage must be enclosed by a building or masonry wall taller than the equipment, treated as principal structures for setback purposes, comply with applicable Fire Code and NFPA standards, and obtain all required state and federal permits before operation.

A data center may not include a nuclear reactor, although it may use electricity generated by a lawfully established off-site nuclear reactor.

A data center must obtain an annual zoning compliance permit by January 31 of each year after the initial certificate of occupancy; failure to maintain approval may result in a stop-work order or other enforcement remedy.

New development must provide direct access to a publicly maintained street or a private street built to public-street standards; new driveways connecting to State-maintained streets require an NCDOT driveway permit.

Driveways and accessways must meet configuration, spacing, surfacing, sight-distance, and minimum-width requirements, including a 24-foot minimum width for two-way driveways serving mixed-use or non-residential development.

Development must provide adequate potable-water and wastewater systems. Connection to a municipal water line or gravity-fed sewer line is mandatory when an adequate system is within 250 linear feet, unless infeasible; on-site wastewater systems require Health Department lot approval before final-plat recording.

Wastewater treatment systems that discharge into surface waters are prohibited.

New electric, telephone, and other utilities serving development created after November 1, 2021, must generally be placed underground, except for qualifying bulk-electricity transmission lines of 69 kilovolts or more.

A development served by public water must generally use at least eight-inch water lines and provide fire hydrants so that no property is more than 400 linear feet from a hydrant, subject to possible deviations approved by fire officials.

Developers installing water, sewer, or other infrastructure must submit professionally prepared and utility-provider-verified as-built plans before issuance of a certificate of occupancy, commencement of operation, final-plat approval, or release of a performance guarantee, as applicable.

New principal buildings or open uses of land generally require an approved landscape plan, and required landscaping must meet minimum tree and shrub sizes, species, stabilization, and maintenance standards.

Non-residential development must comply with exterior-lighting limits and shielding requirements. An exterior-lighting plan is required when the total illuminated area exceeds 10,000 square feet, and lighting at a lot line is capped at 0.5 to 5.0 lumens per square foot depending on the abutting use or right-of-way.

Exterior lighting may not include flashing, revolving, high-intensity searchlight or laser lighting, or luminous tube lighting on building exteriors, and lighting must be directed so its illumination cone remains on-site.

A use capable of generating more than 60 peak-hour trips and located along a major arterial must provide at least one NCDOT-compliant deceleration lane per street frontage, unless NCDOT approves an alternative access-control approach.

For an existing nonconforming site, an expansion costing more than 25 percent but less than 75 percent of the structure's assessed value requires a corresponding percentage of upgrades to deficient parking, landscaping, screening, fencing, and exterior lighting; an expansion costing 75 percent or more requires full compliance.

A nonconforming data-center use may not be expanded or altered in a way that increases its nonconformity, and a nonconforming use discontinued or abandoned for more than 180 consecutive days may be replaced only by a use permitted in the zoning district.

Data centers in the M-2 General Industrial District may be established without the conditional-rezoning or planned-development process required in other districts, although applicable site-plan, zoning-compliance, building, and other permits still apply. M-2 is treated differently for data centers

Data centers outside the M-2 District may be established through conditional rezoning or a planned-development district, providing an approval pathway where the use is not allowed by right. established in accordance with conditional rezoning or planned development

Data centers are exempt from the UDO's maximum building-height standards, although a conditional rezoning or planned-development approval may impose a maximum height. exempted from the height standards

A data center using electricity from a public provider may use a capacity-attestation process in which the provider confirms adequate capacity and infrastructure and confirms that the use will not cause electrical interference or voltage fluctuations. The attestation is required before a building permit and annually thereafter. adequate capacity is available

A data center using public potable water may use a provider-attestation process confirming available water capacity, adequate infrastructure, and preservation of off-site fire-protection water pressure. The attestation is required before a building permit and annually thereafter. adequate capacity is available from existing water sources

An approved data-center development may receive vested-rights protection against later UDO amendments or other County actions that would change, impair, prevent, diminish, or delay the approved development. A site-specific vesting plan generally receives up to two years of protection, extendable to five years through a vested-rights certificate, if the approval remains valid and conditions are met. shall preclude any action by the County that would change, alter, impair, prevent, diminish, or otherwise delay

A qualifying multi-phase development of at least 25 acres with an approved master plan and more than one phase may receive seven years of vested protection beginning with approval of the first phase's site plan, provided the approval does not expire and its conditions are followed. granted a vested right to develop for a period of seven years

If the UDO changes after a data-center application is deemed complete but before a decision is issued, the applicant may choose which version of the UDO applies, subject to the permit-choice procedures. the applicant may choose which version of this Ordinance shall apply

Related applications, including site plans, zoning-compliance permits, and building permits, may be processed simultaneously or concurrently when possible, subject to required sequencing and prerequisite approvals. process related development applications

A fee-in-lieu may be approved instead of certain required private site features or infrastructure, including landscaping, parking spaces, open-space set-asides, streets, sidewalks, bicycle facilities, and drainage facilities. Approval is discretionary and requires Board of Commissioners approval under specified criteria. Payment of a fee-in-lieu

Data centers are expressly classified within the Computation-Related industrial use category, giving them a defined regulatory classification. Example use types include cryptomining operations and data centers.

Lawfully established nonconforming data-center uses, structures, sites, or lots may continue, receive minor repairs and routine maintenance, and remain unaffected by a change in tenancy or ownership. Nonconformities are allowed to continue, and no change in tenancy or ownership of land shall limit the continuance.

For an existing nonconforming site, an expansion costing 25 percent or less of the structure's current assessed value requires no correction of nonconforming parking, landscaping, screening, fencing, or exterior-lighting conditions. Larger expansions require proportional upgrades, and expansions costing 75 percent or more require full compliance. Expansions ... that costs 25 percent or less.

Physically constrained data-center properties may seek reductions to applicable nonconforming-site requirements through an administrative adjustment or variance when limited size, topography, or environmental conditions make full compliance difficult. Lands that are physically constrained.