City of Sparks Exploring Data Center Regulations

The Sparks City Council will likely approve a moratorium on data centers during its next meeting to explore new regulations to implement.

Council unanimously voted to explore the addition of zoning, water, noise, lighting and other potential requirements during its Sept. 22 meeting. A moratorium on data centers has been added to the next meeting agenda.

City representatives said Northern Nevada is quite popular for data centers due to the dry climate, lack of natural disasters, cheap land and tax incentives.

Sparks officials are concerned that costs related to data centers will negatively impact locals. City code currently only requires data centers to undergo an administrative review. Data centers do not have to undergo public hearings or public reviews.

Staff is exploring different zoning areas to apply to data centers, as well as what public review processes data centers should be subject to. Sparks officials also stated they will reach out to other jurisdictions to better grasp how data centers can affect a city.

Councilmember Dian VanderWell said NV Energy promised that data center-related infrastructure costs would not be passed on to the consumers.

City Council will hold its next meeting on Oct. 13. The City of Sparks is currently taking comments via email at cityclerk@cityofsparks.us. Comments are due 12:30 p.m. on the day of the meeting. (Source)