The City of Madison Planning Division proposed Jan. 12 a Zoning Text Amendment to pause the approval and issuance of zoning related to large-scale data and telecommunications centers, according to the Zoning Text Amendment.
This proposal comes at a time when data centers are becoming increasingly common across the country, prompting cities to reconsider whether their current zoning standards are equipped to accommodate such establishments.
This pause on approval, also referred to as a moratorium, has been recognized for the next 12 months and applies to data and telecommunication centers that exceed certain specifications, according to the City of Madison Zoning Text Amendment.
During this time, no new zoning approvals for these qualified institutions would be granted, inherently stopping any new large-scale developments from proceeding, according to the Zoning Text Amendment.
According to the zoning memorandum, this year-long suspension is a supportive planning tool that aims to give the City adequate time to create standards and set regulations in the City of Madison’s current zoning ordinances.
These changes are intended to better accommodate the potential for large data centers within city spaces while adhering to the city’s long-term goals for maintaining sustainability, according to the City of Madison Zoning Text Amendment.
This moratorium wasn’t just imposed to give City planners time to develop appropriate zoning policies, according to the Zoning Text Amendment. It also allows planners to research the potential effects of large-scale data centers.
The year gives city staff and leaders time to address any concerns the community might have and time to do more research into data centers, according to the city’s Department of Planning & Community & Economic Development’s Public Information Officer Jaymes Langrehr.
These proposed data centers account for data and telecommunications centers that are greater than 10,000 square feet and would use that space as a primary storage center, according to the Zoning Text Amendment.
This definition, however, does not include simple, small IT framework systems found in commercial or residential buildings and settings, according to the Zoning Text Amendment.
The zoning amendment doesn’t explicitly state that the proposed moratorium won’t be used for artificial intelligence software. But the proposed centers don’t have much of a connection with other large AI data centers across the state and country, according to Langrehr.
This moratorium allows City planning officials to focus on analyzing resource strain and the potential impacts on local communities that may directly or indirectly affect residents of Madison and the surrounding areas, as stated in the Zoning Text Amendment.
Concerns surrounding large data centers are not unique to Madison. Many small and large advocacy groups have been urging communities to consider the potential adverse effects of approving large data centers and are concerned about their societal impacts, senior campaign coordinator for the Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter Cassie Steiner said.
A key concern about new data centers is the significant increase in energy consumption they entail and who bears the associated costs, Steiner said.
“With new hyper-scale data centers coming to Wisconsin, the prediction is that this will double the energy use of the state,” Steiner said.
Through this concern of increased energy usage, another issue arises with the potential increased consumption of water, Steiner said. Currently, about 70% of Wisconsin’s water use is for energy generation.
But, these issues of unclear policies and standards weren’t driven solely by previously established advocacy groups. They also came from local city staff as well, according to the Common Council Meeting.
The City held a vote Jan. 13 to approve the 12-month pause, and the Common Council held a discussion with Planning Division Director Meagan Tuttle and Building Inspection Division Director Matt Tucker to answer City staff and public comments regarding these data centers.
The largest concerns with these potential new data centers were regarding the effects of noise and water pollution, energy usage, air quality and challenges with existing infrastructure, according to the Common Council Meeting.
Overall, the year-long moratorium signifies Madison’s first step in addressing the increasing presence of large-scale data centers. By issuing temporary pausing approvals, the City has allocated time to research potential impacts, gather public comment and refine and polish zoning standards.
As this process continues to play out, more discussions and policy decisions will shape how the City of Madison approaches growing developments of data centers in the future, according to the Zoning Text Amendment.
