WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Wisconsin Rapids Planning Commission members will consider a permitted use of a data center May 4 with new standards set by the Common Council.
The Common Council voted unanimously April 21 to amend the city’s zoning code ordinance, or Chapter 11 of the Municipal Code, to include definitions and standards for “data centers” and “accessory data centers.”
“We don’t want to be so shortsighted,” Mayor Matt Zacher said in support of the ordinance in the April 14 Common Council meeting. “I understand we don’t want to burden our ratepayers with money coming from a data center but, typically, that’s not what’s going to happen.”
“I think we want to make sure we have some safeguards, but we don’t want to make it so that we can’t bring (data centers) in if that’s what best suits our community and our services that we have here,” Zacher added.
What is in the ordinance amendment?
The ordinance amendment set definitions for two types of “data center” structures within the city’s zoning code ordinance and establishes a set of criteria for Planning Commission and Common Council members to weigh proposals for data center facilities.
A “data center” is defined as “a facility used primarily for the storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data, which houses computer or network equipment, systems, servers, appliances and other associated components related to digital data operations. The facility may also include air handlers, power generators, water cooling and storage facilities, utility substations, and other associated utility infrastructure to support sustained operations at the Data Center,” according to the ordinance.
An “accessory data center” is defined as “computer or network equipment, systems, servers, appliances and other associated components related to digital data operations, including the storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data, serving a permitted principal use,” according to the ordinance.
Criteria for “data centers” established by the ordinance amendment include many typical zoning code standards for items such as length of setbacks from property lines, sound and visual buffers, noise reduction, generator and water usage, vehicle parking and regulatory requirements, according to the ordinance.
Any potential data centers would need to be built at least 400 feet from a residential property, use closed loop or recycled water systems for liquid cooling equipment, discharge water based on local, state and federal laws and regulations, meet the standards of the city’s noise ordinance, and receive approvals from electric utility companies along with state and federal regulators, according to the ordinance.
Criteria for “accessory data centers,” or smaller systems that are likely already in use at many properties across the city including health care, education and business facilities, include standards for location, primary usage and proportion of floor area devoted to an accessory data center compared to a property’s primary structure, according to the ordinance.
Any potential accessory data centers must be located on the property on which they will primarily be used, the data center should only operate to serve the property’s principal use, and should not exceed 25% of the floor area of the property’s primary use, according to the ordinance.
Why move forward with the ordinance?
There are two power companies within the City of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Rapids Water Works and Lighting Commission and Consolidated Water and Power Company, and these companies need to sell electricity to be strong, Zacher said in the April 14 meeting.
While both companies are operating successfully, the city does not want to be overly restrictive of the types of businesses that could use their services in the future, Zacher said. Overly restrictive language regarding a proposed facility’s possible “adverse effect on availability, reliability, quality, cost, or safety of electric service,” was removed from an earlier draft of the ordinance considered by the Planning Commission April 6.
“We don’t want to cut ourselves off at the knees,” Zacher said to describe the restrictive nature of the previous draft ordinance’s language. The Planning Commission decided to remove the restrictive language from the ordinance before recommending its approval to the Common Council.
What is next for the recent data center proposal?
The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing May 4 and consider a proposal from PCH WI Holdings LLC for a conditional use permit to construct a data center facility at 950 Fourth Ave. N. in Wisconsin Rapids. The request includes three existing parcels of land for a total of 208.95 acres, according to property records.
Kyle Kearns, director of community development, previously told a Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune reporter the parcels on Fourth Avenue North stand on the north side of the paper mill property, north of the railroad tracks, near where the pulp mill had been demolished. While the proposed data center would mark a significant redevelopment of a portion of the former paper mill property, the almost 209-acre project would not use up the entire acreage, Kearns said.
The public hearing will be held at 4 p.m. May 4 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 444 W. Grand Ave. in Wisconsin Rapids.
Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Contact him at epfantz@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Will Wisconsin Rapids updated zoning code impact proposed data center?
Reporting by Erik Pfantz, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune / Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
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