In a tied vote, the Reno City Council decided not to update the City’s regulations for data centers.
Had the regulations passed, they would have been added to water usage, power usage, noise levels and other metrics. Currently, regulations are implemented through conditional use permits, which require months of negotiations and discussions, and a public hearing with the Planning Commission.
The prospect of regulations came after the Planning Commission asked Council to pause approving data center appeals, as it wanted to gain a deeper understanding of them.
Data center requirements were officially adopted and uniquely defined during Council’s approval of a municipal code last month. Data centers are subject to the same code requirements as warehouses. The current code includes the general land-use requirements, such as noise, parking, lighting and building height.
The councilmembers in favor of implementing regulations cited the high-power consumption of data centers, which is not currently regulated by City code.
The code amendment may return to Council at a future meeting. (Source)
