The city of Madison’s proposed data center regulatory framework would limit the size of new data centers, prohibiting so-called “hyperscale” data centers larger than 100,000 square feet and data center campuses in the city limits, the city announced Tuesday.
The city’s Department of Planning & Community & Economic Development will hold a virtual public information meeting on Oct. 27 to update the public on its draft framework for proposed zoning regulations for data centers within city limits.
The meeting will be held on Zoom beginning at 5:30 p.m. but registration will be required to receive a link to the meeting.
City staff have been working on a regulatory framework during a one-year moratorium on data centers larger than 10,000 square feet.
The city said its draft framework creates a new definition for data centers in the city zoning code and proposes a size limit on data centers as a way to manage their effects. As a result, the proposed regulations would not allow a large data center or data center campus within city limits.
Proposed regulations also acknowledge the business community’s need for smaller data centers and onsite server rooms.
A data center would only be allowed to be in a single building and only one data center building will be allowed on a property.
Under the current draft, three data center types will be defined, each with specific zoning requirements based on size for small data centers, medium data centers and large data centers.
Hyperscale data centers, defined as those larger than 100,000 square feet, would not be allowed, nor would data center campuses composed of multiple smaller data centers on one lot.
A data center will only be allowed to be in a single building and only one data center building will be allowed on a property.
The Oct. 27 meeting will be recorded and the video will be added to the city of Madison’s informational page on the data center moratorium.
