Williams County imposed a moratorium on data-center permits beginning June 20, 2023, initially for six months and later extended until February 22, 2024. The moratorium was extended to allow staff to finalize the ordinance amendment.

A data center may be located only in the Heavy Industrial (HI) or Agricultural (AG) Districts, and construction, installation, or modification beyond routine maintenance requires both a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and a Williams County building permit. Data centers may only be permitted in the HI and AG Districts with a CUP.

A data-center CUP must go through the County's multi-step approval process, including pre-application review, township comment, public hearings before the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of County Commissioners, public notice to owners within one mile, and final Board approval. The township has 30 days to provide comments, and mailed hearing notice must generally be sent at least 14 days before the hearing. Applications follow the CUP procedures.

Data-center applications must include a project narrative describing processing capacity and expected water and electricity use, an acoustical-engineer noise study, a scaled site plan, and a map identifying sensitive uses within one mile. Applications must include an acoustical study and a one-mile project-area map.

Applicants must provide copies of applicable state and federal permits or compliance documentation and a signed electrical power purchase agreement. The application must include state and federal compliance documentation and a signed power purchase agreement.

A data center must be at least one mile from any single-family or multifamily dwelling, school, church, synagogue, similar religious institution, or public park, measured from the sensitive property's nearest property line to the data center's exterior property line. Data centers must be set back at least one mile from specified sensitive properties.

A new data center must be at least three miles from any lawfully existing data center. New data centers must be set back at least three miles from existing data centers.

All buildings, structures, and appurtenances must comply with the height requirements of the HI District, even when the data center is located in the AG District. Data-center structures must meet HI District height requirements.

Electrical wiring must generally be buried underground, except where it is brought together for interconnection to system components or the local utility grid. The ordinance requires underground electrical wiring with limited exceptions.

The facility must have a secured chain-link, solid wood, or masonry fence at least six feet high around its entire perimeter. A six-foot security fence is required around the entire facility.

A landscaped buffer must be installed around the entire property perimeter, and exterior lighting must comply with the County's lighting standards requiring shielding, downward direction, and limits on intensity and height. Perimeter buffering and County exterior-lighting standards are required.

Access roads must meet County road standards; exterior road improvements require approval by the County Highway Superintendent or designee; a road-maintenance agreement with the responsible government entity is required; and interior roads are subject to Fire Inspector review. Data-center access roads and road-maintenance agreements are specifically regulated.

Data centers must comply with County storm-drainage, erosion-control, grading, and drainage requirements. The ordinance expressly applies those development standards to data centers.

Before development, the applicant and other parties designated by the County—including the property owner, lessee, or operator—must sign a development agreement covering financial security, roads, drainage, reclamation, restoration, and other imposed conditions. A development agreement is mandatory for data-center development.

Applicants must provide financial security for both ongoing maintenance and eventual reclamation and restoration. Each security must equal 125% of the applicable engineer-estimated cost, must be approved by the County, and may take the form of an irrevocable letter of credit, surety bond, or escrowed cash. The ordinance requires 125% financial security for maintenance and reclamation.

The required financial security must be provided before work begins, or by the later deadline set by the Board when approving the data center. Financial security must be posted before commencement of work.

Construction related to an approved CUP must begin within 18 months after approval, subject to a possible one-year extension by the Planning and Zoning Official if timely requested. CUP construction must start within 18 months.

The original applicant, property owner, lessee, and operator must give the County at least six months' advance written notice of an intent to abandon or cease operations. A facility not operated continuously for six months is automatically considered abandoned. Six months of nonoperation triggers automatic abandonment.

After abandonment, the County may require reclamation and restoration within 90 days of written notice, including removal of above-ground and underground structures and utilities to a depth of four feet. If the work is not completed, the County may perform it or arrange for it and recover costs from responsible parties, financial security, a lien, special assessment, or another lawful remedy. The ordinance authorizes 90-day reclamation after notice.

Data centers are added as a conditional use in the Agricultural (AG) District, allowing them to be proposed on AG-zoned land without first obtaining a zone change; a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and building permit are still required.

Data centers remain expressly authorized as a conditional use in the Heavy Industrial (HI) District, providing a direct zoning pathway for development in that district through a CUP.

Data centers located solely on an oil and gas well site or underground gathering pipeline facility under the exclusive jurisdiction of the North Dakota Industrial Commission are exempt from the county’s data-center regulations.

The data-center definition expressly includes cryptocurrency mining and related blockchain operations, allowing those activities to qualify as data centers under the ordinance.

A data center may occupy a dedicated space within an existing building or facility, rather than requiring a separate standalone building, under the ordinance’s definition of data center.

CUP applications may be submitted together with other required land-use applications, allowing coordinated review of related zoning amendments, platting, or variance requests.