By Ned Seaton
Data center regulations under discussion by the Pottawatomie County government would impose limits on noise, limit the height of the data center buildings, and prohibit any perceptible vibrations. Any data centers also would have to submit a plan to “mitigate the depletion of water,” document how much water they’re using, produce a plan to mitigate the impact of the development on plants and animals, and allow annual inspections by the county to assure compliance. And they would have to be located within 1,000 feet of an existing high-voltage power transmission line.
Those are some of the highlights of a new nine-page set of draft regulations being considered by the county’s planning commission, a volunteer board that provides recommendations to the Pott County Commission on land-use issues.
The concept under consideration is to create what’s called a “data center overlay district” that would enable a data center to be built on land currently zoned either agricultural, industrial or heavy industrial — if the proposed data center meets the criteria.
