The City of Ypsilanti is considering a proposed ordinance that would change the zoning law for data centers within city limits.
At the Ypsilanti City Council meeting on Sept. 15, City Planner Josh Burns presented a slideshow regarding the proposal, explaining the key aspects the ordinance would address.
“Data centers are a specialized type of infrastructure,” Burns said. “They house computer servers and related equipment that is used to store, process, manage and transmit digital information. It’s important to note that data centers support more than just cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Data centers have become Ypsilanti officials consider data center ordinance proposal critical infrastructure for modern life, and if they were to suddenly disappear, the consequences would be catastrophic.”
Burns stated that without data centers, many internet functions could no longer work. This includes banking and credit card transactions, pharmacy systems, emergency communications, government services and more.
“However, recognizing that data centers serve an important function does not mean data centers belong everywhere,” he added. Burns said data centers combine high energy and infrastructure demands with continuous cooling, backup power generation, mechanical noise and relatively low employment density.
Burns said that within the last year, there have been about 26 locations across Michigan that have had data center proposals.
There are three categories of data centers that the new ordinance would propose: accessory data center, small data center and large data center. Accessory data centers are required to be subordinate and incidental to the principal use, while small and large data centers are only for special land uses, Burns said.
Under the proposed amendment, a small data center would be capped at 20,000 square feet, five megawatts annually in energy consumption and 20,000 gallons per day of cooling water, to be on at least 2.5 acres, Burns said in the presentation. Anything above that threshold would be classified as a large data center, requiring at least five acres.
The proposal would require that data centers have setbacks of 75 feet on the sides and 100 feet at the rear, 60% maximum lot coverage and 20% tree canopy at maturity. The proposal requires 40% windows and doors on each elevation and no blank wall over 50 feet. The goal is to prevent a windowless box facing a public street in the city.
If a data center were to be proposed, there would need to be a complete application. The application requirements would include the following: a draft development agreement, an operational installment (having someone thoroughly go through the proposed data center operations, anticipated staffing and hours of operation), an environmental site assessment, an emergency operation plan and a decommissioning plan.
In regards to water consumption, open-loop water cooling systems would be prohibited under the proposed zoning text, Burns said.
Councilor Desiraé Simmons, Ward 3, asked Burns to define what an open-loop system means.
Burns stated that an open-loop system is a cooling-based system where a developer is drawing water. An open-loop system brings water into the facility and actively discharges it as it continues coming in, requiring greater water consumption. A closed-loop system is essentially the opposite — a system that recycles the water repeatedly before requiring it to be discharged.
All water must come from the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority, he said. This means no groundwater, wetland, river or stream withdrawals, and no discharge to any natural water system.
“Folks complain about the hum [from data centers] in other communities,” Mayor Nicole Brown said, addressing noise concerns residents have. She asked who would go out to the data center to measure the noise if residents of Ypsilanti file complaints about the humming.
“I don’t expect that a data center is going to go out of their way to address noise complaints just because their neighbor left a complaint,” Burns said. “So, ultimately, if residents are experiencing that issue, they are able to leave a complaint with the city.”
Burns said the city would be able to either hire an acoustical engineer to go out and do a study of the decibel levels at the property line or bring in a decibel reader to confirm whether or not the noise is louder than it should be.
The proposal states that between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., the decibels coming from the data center would be required to decrease on the property line..
Brown brought up the issue of data centers impacting the health of residents if a data center were to be in Ypsilanti.
“That’s one of the difficult things, you know, in new technology, is ultimately, we won’t probably know a lot of the environmental, the health impacts for realistically another decade or two,” Burns said.
He also said that air pollution and water pollution are concerns that the city should regulate if a data center were to be put in Ypsilanti.
Overall, the proposed ordinance as a whole would allow the City of Ypsilanti to decide where data centers are permitted, evaluate land use impacts and neighborhood compatibility, establish measurable operational standards, advance guiding values within the master plan, and coordinate reinvestment in vacant spaces, Burns said.
Councilor Amber Fellows, Ward 3, expressed her gratitude for the presentation, for all the work Burns has put into it, and to Council for increasing the public participation for the zoning text amendment.
“Originally, this was going to be a first reading of the ordinance, and now it is a presentation, and we’re going to have some more public input sessions before it ever comes to first reading,” Fellows said. “So, this gives us a prolonged process to do some editing of drafts, and that is where we need to be.”
A new ordinance requires a first and second public reading, before it becomes law. The next Ypsilanti City Council meeting is at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6 at City Hall, 1 S. Huron St., Ypsilanti.
