Johnson City Faces Scrutiny Over Origin of Data Center Separation Rule
Johnson City faces ongoing questions regarding the origin of its 200-foot minimum separation rule for data centers from residential properties. A public records request for 1,479 pages of documents did not provide a clear answer on how this specific distance was chosen by city staff or the committee forming the rules, despite the rule being approved in 2025.
News 5 is investigating how Johnson City staff determined the 200-foot minimum distance requirement between data centers and residential properties, a rule already approved by the city in 2025 and subsequently copied into new draft regulations. Despite a July 7 records request for information, a review of 1,479 pages of committee agendas, emails, and notes failed to provide a clear explanation for the specific 200-foot figure.
Committee member Sylvain Bruni speculated that the number might have been adopted from other cities' zoning examples, which included 150- or 200-foot separations. However, Bruni denied that the committee simply copied rules without adaptation to the community. Former city planner Heath Martin, in an email of 'talking points', noted that the rules would make only 27 parcels eligible for data center development, but Bruni questions the transparency of the methodology used to arrive at this number, as the documents do not specify which parcels qualify. The city's new planning director has recently started, and a city spokesperson declined to be interviewed on the matter.