Council wants to hear from Lexington residents on data centers. Here's how to engage

During its August 25th Work Session, Council will receive the Planning Commission's recommendations for updating local zoning rules regulating data centers. However, the Council says it won't make a final decision on the zoning ordinance updates until it hears from residents in-person at a special called meeting later this fall.

According to a Council news release, the body plans to formally vote on Tuesday to schedule a special Committee of the Whole for October 6th. During a Committee of the Whole (COW), all 15 councilmembers gather to discuss major issues and legislation, such as the city's budget.

In the Council's news release, 5th District Councilmember Liz Sheehan said the body wanted to hear from residents directly as it studies the issue.

"We decided to call a special meeting to hear directly from our neighbors and to continue giving this issue the attention and transparency it deserves," Sheehan said in the release. "We have been working diligently to craft rules for data centers that fit Lexington’s needs, and we want the public to offer us in-person feedback on these regulations at a more accessible time of day than our typical afternoon meetings.”

Where do the data center zoning updates stand in the process?

In June, Sheehan introduced a pair of resolutions that temporarily paused data center development through October 31st and directed the Planning Commission to develop zoning ordinance text amendments – or changes to Lexington's zoning laws – that regulate data centers in Fayette County.

At the time, Sheehan said that Council had already been working to update local zoning laws to account for modern data centers supporting artificial intelligence. Council accelerated its timeline when reporting from the Lexington Herald-Leader revealed a former Lexmark property had sold to a data center developer.

"Those don't have to come to Council for approval, so we found out when the public found out," Sheehan said at the time.

The draft zoning ordinance updates are moving through the regulatory review process as councilmembers continue to educate themselves about data centers. The city's Planning staff will give an informational presentation at the Council's General Government and Planning Committee on September 8th, the release said.

A first draft of the zoning ordinance updates proposed a complete ban on data centers in Lexington's agricultural zones. It proposed allowing only minor data centers – defined as 50,000 square feet or less – in certain commercial and industrial zones as a conditional use, provided they can meet several operational and environmental standards, such as water, energy consumption and noise plans.

The Planning Commission is recommending its own revisions, including further limiting minor data centers to no more than 40,000 square feet and capping their energy capacity at 25 megawatts.