At a meeting this week, Councilmembers had several questions for city Planning staff about proposed changes to Lexington's zoning rules for data centers. What's next?
Councilmembers will get a data center overview during September 8th's General Government and Planning Committee. They'll also take a look at what the Planning Commission proposes for zoning updates.
As Lexington rewrites its data center rules, here's what Councilmembers are asking
At a meeting this week, Councilmembers had several questions for city Planning staff about proposed changes to Lexington's zoning rules for data centers. What's next?
Council continued its regulatory review of data centers this week, with several Councilmembers raising questions and concerns about the draft zoning updates proposed by Lexington's Planning Commission and the city's Planning staff.
During a September 8th meeting of Council's General Government and Planning Committee, the group got an informational presentation from Planner Principal Daniel Crum. It covered existing examples of data centers operating across the country, potential land use and power grid impacts, and a recap of how the draft zoning updates have evolved throughout the regulatory process.
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Download: You can review the presentation for this meeting here.
That process began in June, when Council unanimously voted to temporarily pause data center development through at least October 31st. At that time, Council also directed the Planning Commission to develop zoning ordinance text amendments (ZOTA) - or changes to Lexington's zoning laws – that regulate data centers. In July, the Planning Commission met and recommended revisions that have since come back to Council for review.
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What you need to know: The proposed zoning updates for data centers have evolved and are likely to keep changing before a final Council vote. An initial draft proposed a complete ban on major data centers – defined as being greater than 50,000 square feet – in any of Lexington's zones. It limited minor data centers to 50,000 square feet, added several operational requirements, and permitted them only as a conditional use within Lexington's B-4 Wholesale/Warehouse and I-1 Light Industrial zones.
At the September 8th General Government and Planning Committee meeting, Crum highlighted the Planning Commission's revisions, which include:
Further restricted the size of a minor data center from 50,000 square feet to up to 40,000 square feet.
Added a 25 megawatt energy capacity cap. For comparison, Project Rainier – a 1,200 acre data center campus built by Amazon in Indiana – has an energy demand of 2.2 gigawatts, which is enough to power roughly 1.43 million homes.
Added more required studies and plans, such as a stormwater management plan, energy efficiency plan, water quality and utilization plan, and a decommissioning plan.
Modified spacing requirements. These include increased set-backs from 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet, and additional sensitive uses within the spacing requirement.
Reducing the allowable noise level at the property line of an adjoining residential zone or use to 30 decibels, 24 hours a day. For context, 30 decibels is about as loud as a soft whisper.
Removed the previous size requirement for server rooms. A server room is defined separately from a data center under the proposed ZOTA and would allow businesses to house computer and network equipment for their own operations under an accessory use.
Councilmembers had several questions about how the Planning Commission and the city's Planning staff arrived at the numbers they did, including for the caps on square footage, energy capacity, and allowable noise level.
Others, such as 10th District Councilmember Dave Sevigny, asked why the Planning Commission and Planning staff considered regulating data centers with a conditional use, rather than creating a new zone for them.
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What is a conditional use? Under Lexington's Zoning Ordinance, a conditional use is an approved exception to the regular rules of the zone a property is in. The Board of Adjustment reviews and grants requests for conditional use permits.
"The framework that the Planning staff and the Planning Commission evaluated was the conditional use aspect, which staff is in favor of largely because it lets you be site specific," Crum explained.
"It really reflects that data centers can operate at a variety of scales... Something that could be appropriate or could not due to some operational factors, generally is what a conditional use is best at sort of evaluating," Crum added.
During the meeting, 1st District Councilmember Tyler Morton pointed out that many of Lexington's B-4 and I-1 zones – where minor data centers would be permitted as a conditional use – are concentrated in his district. He questioned the fairness of that and whether equity was considered in that decision.
Answering Morton, Crum said Planning staff primarily looked at the allowable uses within those zones, and not geographic distribution of the zones themselves. He added there are buffers meant to protect nearby communities.
What's next?
Council did not take any legislative action on the proposed data center ZOTA at the September 8th General Government and Planning Committe meeting.
Council is holding off on making a final decision until it hears from residents in-person at an upcoming public hearing.
That meeting is scheduled for October 6th at 5:30 p.m. in the Government Center, located at 200 East Main Street.
Aaron covers the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council as a City Hall Reporter for CivicLex. His background is in Service Journalism, and he’s passionate about helping Lexington residents stay informed about happenings in local government.
Councilmembers will get a data center overview during September 8th's General Government and Planning Committee. They'll also take a look at what the Planning Commission proposes for zoning updates.
