Data centers in the Agricultural zoning district would require approval of a conditional use permit rather than being allowed by right.

The Planning Commission recommends allowing data centers only with conditional use permits in the Light Industrial, Industrial, Agricultural, Limited Business, General Business 1, and General Business 2 districts.

Data centers would not be allowed in the Residential, Rural Residential, Residential Single-Family, or Residential General zoning districts.

Data centers in the economic development and transportation corridor overlay district would have to be located away from residential uses and would require a conditional use permit.

A conditional use permit requires review by the Planning Commission, legislative approval by the Board of Supervisors, and public hearings before both bodies.

The Board of Supervisors may deny a data-center conditional use permit even if the applicant agrees to proposed conditions.

Conditional use permit conditions may impose project-specific setbacks and vegetative or other buffers to protect nearby properties from noise, light, business activity, and impacts on the county's rural character.

Data-center permits must address site lighting, traffic, and a Construction Traffic Management Plan.

Data-center permits must address water usage, including water sources and quantities, as well as additional fire-suppression water storage or an alternative fire-suppression method.

Data-center permits must address development materials, including materials that reduce impervious surfaces, and may require water testing for discharge quantity and quality, including purity, turbidity, and discharge impacts.

Data-center permits may include requirements to minimize impervious development and impacts on resource protection areas, protect against soil erosion and contamination, and use vegetation—especially trees—for temperature, noise, and viewshed buffering.

Allows data centers, defined as “computer and data processing center and services,” in the Agricultural zoning district through a conditional use permit, creating a zoning pathway for development on agricultural land where the use was previously not allowed.

Retains data centers as permitted uses in the General Business 1 and General Business 2 districts; under the existing ordinance, those uses may be approved by right by the Zoning Administrator after applicable requirements are met.

The Planning Commission’s recommended framework would also allow data centers by conditional use permit in the Light Industrial, Industrial, Limited Business, General Business 1, and General Business 2 districts, as well as in the economic development and transportation corridor overlay district, but not near residential uses.