Lexington’s Urban County Planning Commission added tighter restrictions to a zoning amendment that will dictate how data centers can be constructed in Fayette County during a lengthy Thursday meeting.
Those changes include:
- Further restricting the size of data centers, from 50,000 to 40,000 square feet
- Setting a 25-megawatt cap on capacity
- Increasing setbacks from sensitive areas, like neighborhoods, schools and hospitals, from 1,000 to 1,500 feet
- Adding a 24-hour noise limit of 30 decibels
- Plans for decommissioning and stormwater management
- Prohibiting evaporation-based cooling systems, with a preference for closed-loop cooling systems
Multiple members of the commission worried they did not have enough time to fully flesh out the zoning amendment before its deadline to return it to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council. Some residents expressed concern the process was being rushed.
That resulted in a flurry of last-minute additions to the zoning amendment, after hours of public input and tighter recommendations from the urban county government’s environmental commission.
“The council gave us two things to do in 60 days: one was solar, and one was data centers. Don't blame us, blame the council. They're the ones that sent it to us,” planning commission member Frank Penn said. “The council can subsidize, change the rules, kick it on down the road. We don't have that, so we're going to do the best effort we can today to send them what we think you want.”
The zoning amendment will go to council after it returns from summer recess next month. It can make more changes and give final say on whether to approve it. There is no set timeline on when the council will make a final decision.
A moratorium on data center construction is in place through Oct. 31.
