Data centers are allowed as principal uses only in the Light Industrial (I-1), Heavy Industrial (I-2), and Planned Development (PDD) districts. In a PDD district, the approved PDD plan must establish the allowed principal uses.

Development generally requires site plan approval before a zoning compliance permit can be issued. The director generally must decide a complete site plan application within 60 days, subject to extensions when state-agency review is required.

A zoning compliance permit is required before a building permit may be issued, and approval requires compliance with applicable zoning standards and conditions of prior approvals.

A data center may not be developed or constructed without first obtaining all development approvals and permits required by the zoning chapter and complying with their terms and conditions.

A data center may not be occupied or operated without first obtaining all required development approvals or permits and complying with their terms and conditions.

Permits and approvals authorize only the data-center use, location, design, density, intensity, and development specifically approved; development or operations outside those approvals constitute a zoning violation.

New development must provide required off-street parking and loading. Uses other than agricultural uses and single-family detached or manufactured-home dwellings generally require a parking and loading plan; for an unlisted use or a use with variable demand, the administrator may apply another standard or require an applicant-funded parking-demand study.

Development subject to site plan approval must provide a landscape plan, and new development generally must protect existing trees to the maximum extent practicable. Landscaping must be installed before a certificate of occupancy unless a performance guarantee is provided, and it is subject to a two-year performance guarantee.

A lighting plan, including photometric information and fixture specifications, is required with a site plan application. Exterior lighting generally must be fully shielded, limit spillover at property lines to 0.5 foot-candle, and limit parking, loading, sales, and display areas to an average of 2.5 foot-candles.

If treated as industrial development, a data center must comply with industrial design and siting requirements, including concealing operations and loading areas from off-site views, locating accessory structures so they do not front a street, separating loading and service areas from parking and pedestrian areas, and placing them as far as practicable from abutting single-family residential development.

Site plan approval expires if an application for a building permit for at least one building is not submitted and obtained within five years after site plan approval; the approval then becomes null and void, and the time period does not change with successive owners.

Data-center violations may result in a stop-work order and civil penalties of $200 for an initial summons or ticket and $500 for each additional summons or ticket, subject to an aggregate limit of $5,000 for the same operative facts. Continued violations after that limit may be prosecuted as misdemeanors.

Data centers are permitted principal uses by right in the Light Industrial (I-1) District, subject to applicable use-specific, development, and other regulations.

Data centers are permitted principal uses by right in the Heavy Industrial (I-2) District, subject to applicable use-specific, development, and other regulations.

Data centers may be permitted in a Planned Development District (PDD) when the approved PDD plan expressly establishes the use and the project complies with applicable use-specific standards and PDD requirements.

In the I-1 and I-2 Districts, there is no minimum lot area, lot width, or density requirement. Maximum lot coverage is 50 percent, height is generally limited to 45 feet, and standard setbacks include 75 feet along Route 60 and 25 feet from other districts and for side and rear yards. A conditional use permit may allow greater height.

A PDD plan may establish project-specific lot, building, impervious-surface, height, setback, density, and intensity standards instead of relying solely on base-district standards.

PDD plans must identify the general locations and connections for potable water, wastewater, stormwater, and other public facilities, with the PDD terms and conditions addressing how those facilities will be provided.

A PDD may modify private-road design standards, including right-of-way widths, pavement widths, materials, and turning radii, provided pedestrian and bicycle separation, emergency access, parking, and utility space remain adequate.

A PDD may include a phasing plan coordinating nonresidential development, infrastructure, open space, and the county capital improvements program.

Once approved, a PDD plan and its terms and conditions bind the land, and later permits must comply with them, providing defined development parameters for the approved data center project.

Minor revisions to an approved PDD plan may be approved administratively by the zoning administrator rather than through zoning-map-amendment procedures; major revisions require those procedures.

Site-plan applications are decided by the director without a public hearing and generally must be decided within 60 days after being accepted as complete, although the period may be extended for required state-agency review.

Data-center development in village growth-area or village-growth-area planned-development districts may qualify for sustainability incentives when required sustainable practices are incorporated. Incentives may include up to a 10 percent increase in maximum lot coverage, a 15 percent reduction in required parking or a 15 percent increase in maximum allowed parking, a 10 percent increase in sign area or height, and a 10 percent reduction in required open-space set-asides.

A lawful nonconforming data-center use may continue after zoning rules change if the owner proves it was lawfully established. A change in ownership, possession, or tenancy does not terminate that right.

Minor repairs and normal maintenance needed to keep a lawful nonconforming data center safe are allowed, provided they do not extend, expand, or enlarge the nonconforming aspect.

A lawful nonconforming data-center use may extend into portions of the same structure that were clearly designed or arranged for that use when it became nonconforming.

A nonconforming data-center structure may be expanded within required yards if the expansion is no closer to roads or lot lines than the existing structure, meets specified minimum distances, and does not exceed 30 percent of the structure's total area or 1,250 square feet, whichever is less. A conditional use permit may allow a larger expansion.

A nonconforming data-center structure damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster or another unforeseen and unpreventable occurrence may be repaired, reconstructed, or replaced without increasing the nonconformity. Work generally must be completed within two years, or within four years when the structure is in a federally declared disaster area and the damage resulted from that disaster.

In the Floodplain Overlay District, a lawful nonconforming structure may be enlarged, structurally altered, or relocated elsewhere in the floodplain with a conditional use permit. The project must implement at least four listed flood-resilience measures, limit the nonconforming footprint increase to 15 percent, comply with floodplain standards, and be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

A lawful nonconforming lot may be used and developed for a use allowed in its zoning district, including a data center where permitted, if the proposal meets applicable development standards and is generally consistent with the predominant character of the surrounding area.