P&Z Commission recommends lowering special use permit threshold for data center projects
Trending
On the heels of the Marshalltown city council narrowly voting to send an amendment back to the Planning and Zoning Commission classifying data centers by size at the Oct. 26 -- and a motion to reconsider that action falling short of a needed supermajority -- the commission met in special session on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the item and ultimately recommended lowering the threshold for triggering a special use permit process after about 40 minutes of discussion.
Assistant Housing and Community Development Director Clayton Ender explained that the original amendment proposed by Councilor Marco Yepez-Gomez created three categories -- small, large and hyperscale -- based on electrical load, and it was revised to be based on acreage for the lot size. Under the latest proposal, an 80-acre or larger site, even within the data center overlay district, would trigger a special use permit process as opposed to administrative approval, meaning the P&Z Commission would hold a hearing and make a recommendation before a final decision by the Board of Adjustment. All data center proposals outside of the overlay district will be subject to the special use permit process based on the current regulations under consideration.
Ender said the lot size classification would be easier to verify than electrical load information from a third party, and he estimated that data centers typically use ½ megawatt to 3 ½ megawatts per acre. Commission Chairman Jon Boston noted that he had spoken with Yepez-Gomez last week and felt like they had reached a reasonable compromise, but Boston suggested reducing the acreage threshold to 50 or 60 acres for the special use permit process.
Commissioner Benjamin Harris-Medina, noting that the Marshalltown Walmart lot is 25 acres and the former Emerson/Fisher data center on Governor Road sits on a 12.4 acre lot, felt that 30 acres or 80,000 square feet of building space was a more appropriate figure. He and Boston then agreed that a second story should also garner further review, and Boston motioned, as a compromise with Harris-Medina, to knock the acreage review figure down to 50 acres or more than one story for a special use permit.
At Harris-Medina's urging, he amended the figure down to 40 acres, and Commissioner Steve Valbracht reiterated his concerns that while he wasn't opposed to the special use permit process, he didn't understand why the proposed regulations were only being applied to one industry.
"So it's kind of weird that we're doing it for a building that just makes a little bit of noise," he said. "This whole process is a little bit weird because factories can go in, without any of the restrictions that we're putting in, that are much louder, much more destructive with vehicular traffic and employees every day, that are significantly worse neighbors than this would be."
Commissioner Marty Wymore worried that more public hearings would simply result in more rooms full of people opposed to any project, and Boston replied that the public had demanded more input. The amendment passed 5-1 with Valbracht opposed and Patrick Streit opposing before the public hearing was officially opened.
To kick it off, Ender read a written comment from Maggie Valentine, who urged the commission and the city council to reinstate the size classifications in keeping with the desires of the public. She also called for "hyperscale" facilities over 10,000 square feet to be banned completely. Boston also read a written comment from Leigh Bauder restating her previous calls for community benefit agreements, emergency response plans and decommissioning.
From there, Councilor Gary Thompson stepped forward and noted that while he knew he was not supposed to speak at a P&Z meeting, he had concerns about Streit participating in the discussion while abstaining from voting and the amendment being passed without being previously published or allowing any public comment on it.
City Administrator Carol Webb said she was "confused" as to why the amendment was voted on before public comment was opened,
"I think Councilor Thompson's correct that you're having a public hearing on an amended motion that the public was not noticed about," she said.
The Commission then voted 6-0 to reconsider the amended motion with Streit abstaining, and the public hearing was reopened. Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall said that he shared Valbracht's concerns about treating data centers different than other industries, and he felt it would be more appropriate to base decisions on square footage (either 80,000 or 100,000) with the specific purview of making sure nearby neighbors are not impacted adversely.
Layne Pieri said he had "a serious problem" with the proposed amendment because he felt the commission was ignoring the council recommendation on classifying data centers by their infrastructure impact. Pieri also cited governing bodies in other counties that sizes facilities by electrical design capacity despite claims that it would not be possible to verify electrical use through Alliant.
"If you've received legal opinions saying Marshalltown cannot use electrical design capacity as a zoning or review threshold, say so today. If Alliant Energy has told you it cannot verify the service requested by an applicant, say so today. Otherwise, please stop treating this as impossible," he said. "Council gave you three tiers to review. If you change them, fine, but give us three meaningful tiers based on evidence with increasing review as scale and infrastructure demands increase. Because right now, I see evidence that 80 acres is easier to measure. I don't see evidence that it's the right thing to measure."
Mark Eaton commented that if the commission wanted to support the council, it should ignore the proposed amendment entirely because Councilor Sue Cahill voted to reconsider her initial support for it, meaning that although the motion to reconsider failed, four out of the seven councilors -- Cahill, Jeff Schneider, Greg Nichols and Thompson -- did not want the amendment to come back to P&Z.
"If you're really here to support the council, four council members didn't want this on the docket today," he said.
Jim Palmer sought clarification that his own company would not be affected when it expands in the future, and he was told that they only apply to data centers. As the hearing wrapped up, Webb advised the commission that they could proceed with a vote as long as the city attorney did not determine Streit's comments to be "decisive" in any way. She added that he should declare the reason for the abstention, which he has in the past due to a potential future conflict of interest.
A motion from Harris-Medina to recommend the 40-acre, two story trigger for the special use permit process within the data center overlay district passed by a 4-2 tally with Valbracht and Deirdre Gruendler opposed and Streit abstaining. A subsequent motion to send it to the city council passed by the same tally, and it will now be considered at the Nov. 9 meeting.
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.