Johnson County looks toward future beyond data center moratorium

IOWA CITY — Johnson County is in the midst of a one-year moratorium on approval of rezoning applications, site plans and building permits for data centers in unincorporated parts of the county.

Ahead of the moratorium expiration date, Nov. 8, the county is looking to update its process for zoning approval of data centers to protect county concerns over location, water usage and size, among others.

Discussions about a moratorium arose during the county’s update of other development ordinances, such as those on auxiliary dwelling units, to comply with state code.

County staff are currently working on an updated draft ordinance to bring to the Board of Supervisors for future consideration before the expiration of the moratorium.

Special use permits, environmental impacts, use of NDAs

A draft data center ordinance will look to further clarify data center definitions, such as facility used primarily for data storage or as a secondary use.

As part of the review process, the board is considering different ways to regulate water usage by a data center. County staff have suggested requiring a regular water usage report, water balance study and a plan for managing contaminated water.

Other proposals include a volume cap on usage and setting standards for water use efficiency. Beyond water usage, the board is considering energy efficiency requirements for day to day operations.

County staff, at a December work session of the supervisors, also encouraged the board to consider that if county limitations are too severe a data center could still be permitted in cities within the county and impact the water supply without the county having any say in regulatory measures.

“I think that should be the trade-off is that understanding that they may still take our water even if we don’t let them come in,” said Josh Busard, the county’s director of Planning, Development and Sustainability.

County staff have suggested that the board consider limiting the size of data centers, whether that be determined by land use or a building’s square footage. In addition to size limits, staff have suggested putting weighted decibel limits on operations to avoid a surplus of low frequency vibrations.

The board also is considering banning the use of NDAs in relation to data center development, a move the majority of supervisors have indicated they would support.

“In my whole time I’ve been on the board I don’t think we’ve ever had an NDA because we are a government entity and we want to be transparent and I would imagine we would, just as a course of doing business, not ever want to get into that,” Supervisor Rod Sullivan said in December.

Should the county wish to adopt a policy surrounding the use of NDAs in data center development, it would need to update ordinances beyond planning and zoning.

The board also is considering whether it would like to use a special permit process, meaning any plans would have to go through Planning and Zoning, be subject to a public hearing and then a board vote.

Certain permitting processes, such as a conditional use permit, would be approved through the Board of Adjustment. The Board of Adjustment is a group appointed by the Board of Supervisors, rather than elected by the public.

Any draft ordinance also would consider potential economic impacts and tax base growth that a new data center could bring.

Linn County hiring consulting firm to look over data center ordinance

Other Iowa counties also are considering changes to their zoning ordinances as they relate to the development of data centers.

In June, the Clarke County Board of Supervisors approved a temporary moratorium on the construction of data centers in the county, according to reporting by the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune. In approving the moratorium, the supervisors recalled similar moratoriums on wind and solar installations, until zoning ordinances could be updated.

In an effort to “leave no stone unturned,” Linn County will pay $12,500 to have consultants review its drafted data center zoning code.

The funding will be used to support reviews by two third-party consulting agencies, MSA Consultants and the Antara Group, ahead of the Linn County Planning & Zoning Commission formally reviewing the draft code.

Consultants’ notes will be used to finalize the draft language, which is expected to appear before the Planning & Zoning Commission early this year. The code also will require approval from the Linn County Board of Supervisors before it can take effect.

Data centers are currently being built in southwest Cedar Rapids, and Linn County Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said Google has approached the county about building another data center near Palo.

Grace Nieland of The Gazette contributed to this report

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com

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