By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow News 1
The Joint City-County Planning Commission approved a change to Cave City planning and zoning guidelines regarding data processing centers Thursday.
The key change was to add regulations regarding data processing centers within the city. The Cave City City Council must still vote on any changes before they become enforceable. At present, there are no regulations regarding where data centers could locate within the city.
Planning Director Kevin Myatt explained the need for the addition of regulations to the city’s zoning ordinance.
“The fact that they’re not referenced in [the Cave City] zoning code permits them. So, any commercial or industrial classification, currently, would permit data center without any … stipulations applied to it,” Myatt told the commission members.
He said the change to the ordinance came at request of Cave City Mayor Dwayne Hatcher via a letter to the commission.
Myatt read the five required items that will be added to the zoning ordnance as section 12.4.4. They are listed below.
12.4.4 Data Processing Centers
The development is capable of producing at least fifty (50%) percent of the electricity required to adequately sustain operation for the site in which the data center is located.
Data centers shall utilize self-contained cooling systems that do not rely on, withdraw from, or discharge to the municipal public water supply system without coordination with the local water utility provider pertaining to the capacity required to continue adequate service to the existing network.
Any activity under jurisdiction of the Kentucky State Board on Electric Generation and Transmission Siting must submit a decommissioning plan with the development plans pursuant to KRS 278.704
Any building housing a data center be located no closer than one thousand (1,000’) feet from any adjacent residential zoned district.
Any building housing data center be located no closer than two hundred (200’) feet from any property line.
An update to the Cave City zoning ordinance that specifies the requirements of data processing centers to locate within the city is projected onto the wall during the Joint City-County Planning Commission on April 30. James Brown/Glasgow News 1
The list was projected onto the wall for commissioners and others in attendance of the meeting to see.
Along with the addition of the section, data processing center requests would be handled as “permitted use rather than a conditional use.”
“Our thing is we just don’t want to close the window of opportunity in case we do have [one],” Cave City Mayor Dwayne Hatcher told the commissioners. He added the guardrails in the section along with the permitted use option “sets us in a position to at least look at an opportunity if it arises.”
Along with the list of requirements added to the Cave City zoning ordinance, the centers would not be allowed in any zone other than heavy industrial. They are allowed there provided they meet the specific list of standards.
The map of the Cave City zoning classifications is projected onto the wall during the Joint City-County Planning Commission meeting on April 30. Heavy industrial classified property is shown in blue. James Brown/Glasgow News 1
The areas with I-2 classification within Cave City are primarily in the western areas of town. Much of it is property that was annexed within the city about two years ago. The Chapatcha Industrial Park near the Cave Area Conference Center is also zoned heavy industrial. It is off Mammoth Cave Street.
Myatt estimated that about 14 percent of Cave City has an I-2 classification.
The changes to the Cave City zoning ordinance will be voted on by the Cave City City Council at a future council meeting. They were approved by the commission Thursday.
Key Facts
• Joint City-County Planning Commission approves changes to Cave City zoning ordinance for data processing centers
• Proposal limits data centers to heavy industrial zones with new distance and infrastructure standards
• Mayor Dwayne Hatcher requested the changes through a letter to the commission
• Planning Director Kevin Myatt says current code effectively allows data centers in many commercial and industrial zones without conditions
• New section 12.4.4 outlines power, cooling, decommissioning and setback requirements
• Cave City City Council must still vote before any changes become enforceable
