P&Z Commission discusses initial draft of proposed data center regulations
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Members of the Marshalltown Planning and Zoning Commission gathered for their monthly meeting on Thursday night with just a single item on the agenda -- another work session on data center regulations, this time with the first draft of a potential ordinance presented by City Zoning Administrator Clayton Ender.
With two commissioners absent (Ben Harris-Medina and Steve Valbracht) and a new one seated (Marty Wymore, replacing Matt Brodin), the group conversed for approximately two hours before calling it quits and acknowledging that much work still remains to be done.
"I felt like we made good progress, but it is just a lot of information. And I don't think there's really a way to avoid that with this topic," Ender said on Friday.
Some of the biggest issues raised thus far have included noise, water and power usage and generation, setbacks and buffering and zoning. Ender explained that under the draft ordinance, large scale developments are categorized by size, with anything over certain square footage and infrastructure intensity thresholds generating a master development plan review and public hearings as opposed to simple administrative review.
A significant question remains unresolved on whether a data center overlay zoning district will be added to the city code or if such facilities will be permitted under general industrial, public institution and general commercial zoning, and Ender noted that rezoning requests would go to the city council for review -- otherwise, however, the decision-making power would remain in the hands of the Board of Adjustment based on recommendations from the P&Z Commission, as any current application would have been handled before the moratorium was put in place, along with review and final approval of the master development plan by the P&Z commission.
The noise ordinance will largely remain in line with the current city ordinance for other industrial users with regard to decibels -- other than the "C level" addition or low frequency hum, but he did add that backup generators will only be allowed to run in true emergency situations. The commissioners, especially Chairman Jon Boston, stressed a preference for requiring data centers to hook into the electrical grid and ban them from digging their own wells unless the very narrow conditions for an exemption are met.
"It's not a prohibition on producing power, but it would have to be strictly for that onsite usage. And if you're producing your own power, you are strictly held to the noise regulation except for in a legitimate outage or emergency," Ender said. "It's a lot of stacking and layering of various things."
During the meeting, questions were also raised about the types of power that could be generated onsite and whether something like a solar array could be allowed. Ender said there are no hard caps on how much electricity or water a data center can use other than, in the case of Marshalltown Water Works (MWW), when the utility simply cannot supply enough based on its own availability.
As for setbacks, the draft regulations stipulate that the noise generating units of a data center must be at least 300 feet from all residences, with the restrictions falling to the base zoning district. In general, Ender told the T-R he feels "very optimistic" about where things stand as the city works its way through the ongoing moratorium that is currently set to expire in late November unless a 60-day extension is voted on by the council.
"I felt like we had a pretty solid draft one. The planning commission didn't throw it out the window on me... There's certainly cleanup items, some additional education and understanding we need to do, but we're moving in the right direction. We have, at least, the framework for an ordinance here that's pretty solid," he said.
While there will certainly be inspiration from other communities, he added that he ultimately wants the ordinance to be specific to Marshalltown. A public open house on the draft ordinance is set for the noon hour and the evening of Thursday, Oct. 1 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum followed by a special work session on Oct. 8 and a decision on whether to proceed with public hearings from there or extend the moratorium further.
The biggest remaining questions, Ender said, pertain to how the zoning ordinance will look and the administrative and public review process.
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.