A proposed rule to ban Milwaukee data centers larger than 60,000 square feet and strictly limit smaller data centers is being recommended by the city’s Zoning Code Technical Committee.
The June 15 decision was largely a technical step about formatting, legality and administrative enforceability. The proposal now heads to a Plan Commission public hearing on June 29.
Common Council members proposed the rule in May following sharp public scrutiny on the expansion of data centers across the Milwaukee area. That includes a proposed 19,000 square-foot “computational research space” at a former Walmart in Midtown Center.
“We have had a lot of concerns of noise already, and we just want to be proactive from that perspective,” Jezamil Arroyo-Vega, Department of Neighborhood Services commissioner, said at the committee meeting.
Under the proposal, data centers smaller than 20,000 square feet would be allowed in industrial-light and industrial-heavy zones. Those between 20,000 square feet and 60,000 square feet would be permitted within those zones as a special use with approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Data centers larger than 60,000 square feet would be banned.
A special use permit for the mid-sized category would require a Wisconsin licensed professional engineer create a report including projected annual and peak energy demand; noise analysis, and how the data center would “provide community benefit” and minimize harm to surrounding neighborhoods.
After Arroyo-Vega raised concerns about the potential noise of data centers smaller than 20,000 square feet, David Gelting, a legislative services specialist, said those data centers would be subject to the city’s normal noise standards.
The committee ruled the proposal meets its criteria to undergo Plan Commission review.
Rule would define and limit data centers
The proposed rule would additionally define a new land use type called “data center” to impose limits around that category.
A data center is “a facility, other than a transmission tower, used primarily to operate, maintain, or provide access to computer and network facilities for the transmission of voice, data, text, internet, sound, or full-motion-picture video between network termination points,” the proposal reads.
A data center would also include “offices, air handlers, power generators, generator fuel storage, water cooling and storage facilities, and utility infrastructure that supports sustained operation of the data center,” it said.
The zoning proposal would also exclude data centers from the existing definition of “general office” and “substation/distribution equipment,” both indoor and outdoor, and amend the definition of “general office” to include “computer server rooms or data facilities that serve the principal office use on the same premises.”
The Walmart redevelopment’s proposed computing facility includes server racks and data-storage systems, as well as “workstations for engineers and analysts,” air handlers, backup generators, and “supporting electrical and cooling systems typical of a commercial office or laboratory,” according to its zoning deviation request.
But at a June 10 open house, Alderman Mark Chambers and developer Trent Overhue repeatedly insisted the facility would not be a data center.
Chambers had hosted the open house, the first of three planned, after pulling items regarding the redevelopment from a May 18 Plan Commission meeting, which was expected to be met with public protest.
City officials confirmed at the June 15 meeting the proposed rule would only apply to applications submitted after its passage, which wouldn’t include the Walmart redevelopment plan.
Milwaukee already has a 45,000-square-foot data center constructed by the Potawatomi Business Development Corp. at 3135 W. Highland Blvd in 2012. Downtown’s Wells Building also leases some floors to a telecommunications and data center.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee panel advances rule to limit new data center construction
Reporting by Jaeha Jang, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Jaeha Jang, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
