The policy applies to data centers seeking a discretionary county agreement or other discretionary county action, such as a development agreement, road-use agreement, tax-abatement agreement, or infrastructure agreement; those requests must undergo the prescribed review process. discretionary action within the county's lawful powers

Before requesting county approval, an applicant must submit a complete development-review package, and formal review cannot begin until Development Services determines that all required materials have been provided. No formal review shall commence

The County may require an independent technical review by engineers, hydrogeologists, transportation specialists, environmental consultants, acoustical consultants, emergency-management professionals, financial analysts, or other experts. retain one or more qualified professional firms

Applicants must fund the County's anticipated review expenses through an escrow deposit established according to the project's size, complexity, and anticipated impacts, must replenish the escrow when requested, and may face suspension of review until sufficient funds are available. Review activities may be suspended

New projects must post an outdoor notice sign at the proposed location for 60 days and publish project notice in a local newspaper for two consecutive business days, including the exact project name and location address. 60-Day sign outdoors

Applicants must provide extensive road and transportation documentation, including a traffic-impact analysis, heavy-haul route study, construction-traffic plan, bridge-capacity analysis, pavement-degradation study, road-maintenance agreement, access permit, oversize or overweight route plan, and emergency-access analysis. Road and Transportation Review

The County may require developer-funded transportation mitigation, including road improvements, turn lanes, signalization, road widening, and dust-control measures. developer-funded road improvements

Applicants must submit water-supply and hydrogeologic documentation covering projected demand, cooling technology, recycling, backup and drought plans, aquifer impacts, groundwater availability, drawdown, neighboring-well interference, sustainability, and recharge impacts. Water Source

Applicants must provide wastewater, stormwater, drainage, floodplain, and applicable state-permit documentation, including hydrologic and hydraulic studies, detention or retention design, a 100-year flood analysis, downstream-impact analysis, SWP3 and construction-permit compliance, and floodplain certifications or permits where applicable. Stormwater and Drainage Requirements

Applicants must document electrical and power impacts, including ERCOT interconnection status, transmission availability, projected demand, peak load, backup generation, blackstart or islanding capability, and reliability. ERCOT and Grid Analysis

Where on-site generation is proposed, applicants must provide air-emissions, fuel-storage, stack, generator-operating-hours, noise, and air-permit-applicability analyses. On-Site Generation

Applicants must provide air-permitting documentation and emissions modeling, including anticipated nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, greenhouse gases, and other regulated pollutants. Air Permitting

Applicants must provide noise studies covering baseline, daytime and nighttime levels, property-line modeling, low-frequency noise, generator testing, transformers, and cooling fans, together with a mitigation plan that may include acoustic walls, berms, and vegetative screening. Noise Analysis

Applicants must provide lighting, glare, night-sky, FAA, photometric, fixture, and operational-lighting analyses and identify controls for downward-directed lighting, property-line illumination, and security lighting. Lighting Analysis

Applicants must provide applicable environmental and ecological documentation, including federal environmental review, endangered-species and migratory-bird studies, habitat and wetlands analyses, stream-impact studies, and applicable Clean Water Act permits or certifications. Federal Environmental Review

Applicants must provide hazardous-materials and fire-protection documentation, including battery-energy-storage and lithium-ion hazard assessments where applicable, chemical inventories, spill prevention, fire-suppression design, and hazardous-materials response plans, plus coordination with specified local emergency officials. Hazardous Materials Review

Applicants must submit emergency-planning materials covering emergency operations, cybersecurity response coordination, mutual aid, evacuation routes, hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, and severe-weather continuity. Emergency Planning

Applicants must provide economic and fiscal documentation, including tax-impact analysis, PILOT disclosures, abatement requests, and construction and permanent employment estimates. Economic Impact Documentation

The County may request additional information, require further review, negotiate development-related agreements, or take other lawful action, and the policy creates no obligation for the County to approve the project, agreement, permit, incentive, or request. Nothing in this policy shall be construed

The policy applies only when a developer seeks a discretionary county agreement or other discretionary action; projects not seeking such county action are generally outside the policy, except for existing statutory duties involving septic systems, floodplains, roads, or drainage infrastructure. applies only if a developer applies to the County for an agreement

Checklist requirements are limited to items applicable to the proposed development and reasonably related to the county's evaluation of the requested agreement or discretionary action, which can reduce unnecessary submission requirements. required only if and to the extent that the item is applicable

Independent technical reviewers' findings and recommendations are advisory rather than binding on the Commissioners Court, so the review itself cannot impose mandatory project changes. advisory in nature and shall not be binding upon the Commissioners Court

Applicants may seek county development agreements, road-use or infrastructure agreements, tax-abatement agreements, and other discretionary county actions for a specific large-scale industrial development. These are subject to county approval and the policy creates no obligation for the county to approve them. development agreement, road use agreement, tax abatement agreement, infrastructure agreement

Any unused funds deposited for the county's independent review must be returned to the applicant after the review is complete. Any unused escrow funds remaining after completion of the review process shall be returned to the applicant