Findlay's proposed data center zoning gets rewrite

FINDLAY — Findlay officials tapped the brakes Thursday on proposed zoning for data centers inside city limits. Responding to weeks of public pressure and new technical information, Matt Cordonnier, director of the Hancock Regional Planning Commission, said the draft has undergone a major rewrite, about 16 changes in all. He spent hours Thursday walking both the City Planning Commission and Findlay City Council's Planning and Zoning Committee through the changes. Both bodies decided to delay a vote on whether to recommend it. Cordonnier said the new draft was shaped by public comments, lessons from his recent New Albany data center tour and additional research into rapidly changing data center technology. He said the New Albany trip was pivotal. That city has 27 data centers and 13 more under construction, and staff there shared "what they messed up, what they need to do better." Cordonnier said those lessons directly shaped Findlay's draft, including tax structure protections, infrastructure planning, fencing standards, parapet walls and cooling system restrictions. "A lot of it was how to maximize the tax revenue from a data center," he said. Cordonnier, along with three Findlay councilmen, traveled to New Albany on Aug. 25 for an invitation-only tour of the city's data center and industrial development operations held for public officials. Council President David Murphy, a Republican; councilmen Dan DeArment, R-4, and Brad Wagner, R-at-large, also made the trip. The New Albany International Business Park is home to Intel's $28 billion semiconductor campus. A total of 45 public comments were received via feedback gathered through the city's website: www.findlayohio.gov, listed on the Zoning Department's sub-page. The web page details the drafting of zoning regulations for large-scale data centers. Cordonnier said comments ranged from outright opposition to detailed concerns about noise, water use, setbacks and environmental impacts. One of the largest changes in the draft is a shift from a 1,000-foot property line setback to a 500-foot building-to-building separation. Cordonnier said the old method made development mathematically impossible, citing examples where a 1,000-foot setback would require 92 acres of empty buffer for even a one-square-foot building. Cordonnier said the draft already requires a pre-construction acoustical study, and a post-construction study should be mandatory as well. Noise limits remain 45 dB at night and 55 dB during daytime at the property line. He said the ordinance now prohibits once-through cooling systems and expands protections for private wells, groundwater, streams and surface waters. Developers must submit a chemical use and discharge list covering cooling additives, biocides and corrosion inhibitors. He said the ordinance does not set a citywide megawatt cap, but it now requires the Planning Commission to establish a maximum electrical demand for each project. Operators would need new approval to exceed it. New provisions require decorative or screened fencing, parapet walls to hide rooftop mechanicals, lighting limits of 3,000 Kelvin, strict foot-candle caps and environmental testing. The draft also adds several new required reports, including a fiscal infrastructure responsibility statement, a chemical use and discharge inventory and a communication infrastructure plan. Cordonnier cited New Albany's experience with data centers requiring a 10,000-strand fiber optic cable, far beyond typical municipal systems. The ordinance also authorizes independent third-party review of all technical studies at the applicant's expense. Cordonnier described the legislation as the most complex ordinance he has ever written. He said that data center technology varies widely and is rapidly evolving. "We are preparing for a data center that uses a lot of water… essentially no water… air-cooled… or technology not even being used right now," he said. The proposed regulations would be housed in a new I-3 industrial district designed for large-scale industrial campuses, including data centers and other emerging technologies that don't fit neatly into existing zoning categories. Data centers would not be permitted outright; instead, each project would require conditional use approval that spells out operating conditions and gives the city enforcement authority if a facility fails to meet them. The delay continues months of discussion, as the city works to establish a regulatory framework while a 12-month moratorium on data center construction remains in place. The moratorium runs until April 2027 unless council adopts zoning earlier. Ohio law does not allow cities to ban a land use outright, but does allow them to define "what, where and how" a use may operate. Findlay officials have not identified any specific proposals for data centers within the city. The discussion comes as communities across the region have begun examining their zoning codes and questioning whether utility systems can support large-scale computing facilities. Locally, officials have acknowledged that data center construction would most likely take place outside city limits.