Title
ZONING TEXT AMENDMENT TO ALLOW DATA CENTERS IN THE CITY'S INDUSTRIAL ZONING DISTRICTS
COUNCIL STRATEGIC INITIATIVE ADDRESSED:
Council Initiative: Strengthen economic conditions & create new opportunities
CITY ATTORNEY REVIEW: N/A
SUMMARY STATEMENT
Over the last two years, the city has received several inquiries about locating data centers in the City of Longview. One firm is negotiating a lease for a city-owned building. The zoning code currently does not list “data centers” as a permitted use in any of its zoning districts. Data centers are defined as following:
Data center: A facility equipped with or connected to one or more computers, used for processing or transmitting data. (Random House Dictionary)
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g. air conditioning, fire suppression) and various security devices. A large data center is an industrial-scale operation using as much electricity as a small town. (Wikipedia)
In further reading about data centers, they typically do not generate much traffic and the only noise they tend to generate is from heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. As stated in the definition above, data centers can be “industrial-scale operations.” Accordingly, industrial zoning districts seem to be the appropriate districts for them. Thus, the proposal would allow data centers to be located all of the City's industrial districts.
The proposal also include eliminating the term “technology centers” from the list of permitted uses in the industrial district. City staff has found that technology centers typically refer to geographic locations (e.g. Silicon Valley in California) or to large academic centers such as universities. It is a ...
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