Data centers are authorized only as a special-exception use in the IPUD Industrial Planned Unit Development District; they are not authorized in the other listed zoning districts. Data center permitted by special exception in IPUD

A data center must obtain a special-exception or conditional-use approval in addition to ordinary site-plan and building-permit approvals, with public review and City Council approval.

A proposal must undergo IPUD review and public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council, followed by separate special-exception review and a public hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Applicants must submit all information required by the supplemental regulations with the initial use application, including any zoning-amendment and special-exception applications.

Facilities must be served by public water and public sewer.

Water-cooling systems must use closed-loop or recycled water.

Cooling-water flushing and refilling may occur only at times approved by the Western Virginia Water Authority.

Data-center buildings, generators, HVAC equipment, battery backup, and other associated equipment or accessory structures must be at least 150 feet from every lot line and 300 feet from any residential or multi-purpose zoning district.

Routine generator exercise and maintenance is limited to Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Generators must be enclosed so that sound does not exceed 70 dBA measured 23 feet from the generator.

On-site generators must meet or exceed EPA Tier 4 emissions standards.

Fences may not be placed in front of required landscaping along roads, landscaping must be placed in front of road-adjacent fencing, and barbed-wire fencing is prohibited.

Where public roads abut residential or multi-purpose zoning districts, landscaping must include at least three staggered rows of approved evergreen trees planted 15 feet on center; the Zoning Administrator may require placement to reduce noise and block views.

Public-street-visible building facades must break up their mass at least every 100 horizontal linear feet through specified height changes, step-backs or recesses, and changes in materials, patterns, textures, or colors; the main entrance must also be differentiated.

Aluminum siding, unfinished or untreated wood siding, plywood siding, vinyl siding, scored stucco that imitates brick or stone, and foam-based products are prohibited on building facades.

Noise from all data-center activity may not exceed 60 dBA during the daytime or 55 dBA at nighttime, measured at the property line.

Before final site-plan approval, applicants must submit a site-specific sound-modeling study prepared by a Virginia-licensed professional engineer under ISO 9613 standards, covering pre-development and predicted post-development noise conditions.

Noise-mitigation measures identified by the sound study must be incorporated into site plans and, when related to buildings, into building plans before building permits are issued.

Within 60 days after a certificate of occupancy is issued for each phase or development, and whenever requested by the Zoning Administrator, the operator must submit a post-development sound study during a period generally associated with peak cooling operations; any exceedance requires immediate corrective action.

Cooling, ventilating, and operational equipment must be inside an enclosed building, a walled courtyard, or behind a roof parapet tall enough to eliminate visibility from public streets and adjacent properties; access to a walled courtyard or enclosed building must have solid doors or gates.

An infrastructure impact and analysis study, sealed by a Virginia-authorized professional engineer, is required and must address electrical capacity and redundancy, water use and thermal management, wastewater discharge, fiber routes and rights-of-way, construction and staffing traffic, and hazardous-material management.

The electrical analysis must address anticipated full-build-out peak load, include a utility letter confirming capacity without degrading service to existing customers, specify and screen on-site substations, and provide an emergency-power plan covering generator capacity, testing, fuel storage, and spill containment.

The water and thermal-management analysis must quantify average and peak cooling-water use, describe the cooling technology, assess water-table or municipal-supply impacts when evaporative cooling is used, address drought-stage operations, and report the volume and chemical composition of wastewater or blowdown discharged to the municipal sewer.

The connectivity and right-of-way analysis must map proposed fiber connections and evaluate trenching or overhead installations in public rights-of-way, including restoration of disturbed infrastructure.

The transportation and public-safety analysis must include a traffic-impact analysis for construction heavy-vehicle trips and permanent staffing.

Applicants must provide a hazardous-materials management plan for UPS batteries and backup fuel reviewed and signed by the City of Roanoke Fire Marshal's Office.

Creates a defined zoning pathway for data centers in the Industrial Planned Unit Development (IPUD) district through a special-exception approval, subject to public review and requirements for screening, setbacks, building design, noise, and an infrastructure impact study.

Provides an approval pathway for expanding existing data centers, including additions or modifications that comply with applicable site, building, and operational standards.

Supports construction of utility, electrical, communications, transportation, water, and wastewater infrastructure needed to serve data-center development.

Allows existing lawful data-center uses and facilities to continue operating and, subject to stated limits, protects them from becoming unlawful solely because later requirements change.

Expressly permits Battery Energy Storage Systems at data centers, supporting backup-power and energy-storage operations. Battery Energy Storage Systems are permitted

Allows routine generator exercise maintenance on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., subject to enclosure, emissions, and noise requirements. Routine generator exercise maintenance is limited

Excludes generator testing during the authorized 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. period, testing required by the Department of Environmental Quality, and emergency-generator use during qualifying emergencies from the data center's maximum noise-level rule. The maximum sound level in this section does not apply