Zoning code proposal floated as a pause on large-scale data centers

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ZONING CODE PROPOSAL FLOATED AS A PAUSE ON LARGE-SCALE DATA CENTERS

A proposal meant to buy Tippecanoe County time to do a deeper study into the sort of zoning codes needed to regulate anticipated development of large-scale data centers will go to the Area Plan Commission this month.

The APC’s Ordinance Committee on Wednesday advanced a proposed zoning designation that would define large-scale data centers as networked computer server farms in a grouping of buildings of 10,000 square feet or greater. Under the proposal, they would be allowed in I2/industrial zones once they had Board of Zoning Appeals approval on a special zoning exception covering existing requirements meant to eliminate hazards and nuisances.

(Photo: Unsplash)

Amanda Esposito, APC assistant director, said the proposed zoning designation purposely put large data centers into the I2 classification because there were few existing parcels of land in the county with that zoning designation.

That, she said, meant a company looking to plant a major data center in the county likely would have to go through the rezoning process, followed by a Board of Zoning Appeals vote before construction.

The proposal comes a month after county commissioners asked APC staff to study potential zoning regulations for data centers, at a time when the county already is doing the same for utility-scale solar projects, in the wake of controversy of the 1,700-acre Rainbow Trout Solar proposal that failed this summer on the western edge of the county.

“Before we have a chance to really dig into what these mean for our community – if they’re good, if they’re bad, any kind of research – APC staff thought that it would be best to get something on the books in case these large data centers are looking around for a place in Tippecanoe County,” Esposito told APC Ordinance Committee members Wednesday. “The point of this is just to put a bit of a pause on allowing them so we found the best location for them in our (zoning) ordinance.”

Ryan O’Gara, APC executive director, said the initial step was better than “crossing our fingers … and hope for the best that Amazon, Meta and the rest don’t show up with their mega centers.”