1srelluc
Diamond Member
Town Council Begins Process for Data Center Prohibition
In a unanimous vote, shortly after midnight on June 23, following a motion crafted by Vice-Mayor Amber Veitenthal, the Town Council denied a text amendment that would define data centers […]
royalexaminer.com
In a unanimous vote, shortly after midnight on June 23, following a motion crafted by Vice-Mayor Amber Veitenthal, the Town Council denied a text amendment that would define data centers and allow them by special-use permit in the I-2 industrial zone with restrictive ordinance.
The motion also instructed staff and the Town Planning Commission to act within 60 days, preparing language to prohibit data centers in every Front Royal zoning district and establishing a temporary moratorium on data center applications.
The task for the commission will include defining “data center” versus “technology”.
This multifaceted motion was made and passed with the awareness that data centers have a history of negatively impacting communities, generating concerns ranging from environmental to fiscal, including questions about land use, infrastructure impacts, and the safety, health, and welfare of citizens.
A point of clarification was received about the Avtex property, (a former industrial site in town next to the Shenandoah River) in which was explained that it's sale (to a land company that acquires land for data centers) was made by an entity separate from the Town (the site's receivers) and that the property in question has not come before the council for consideration.
I hope a lot of towns/counties are gonna go back and revise their wording to include data centers and any by-right ordinances they have that pertain to "technology" as they are often less stringent than for industrial use.
