Data Centers on Hawaiʻi County Council Agenda This Week
The Hawaiʻi County Council is set to discuss Bill 170, which aims to explicitly define "data center" and clarify that these facilities are not permitted in the county's industrial-commercial mixed-use zoning districts. This legislative action seeks to prevent data center development amidst growing community concerns over their significant water and energy consumption and local impact.
The Hawaiʻi County Council is scheduled to consider Bill 170 this week in Hilo, addressing the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure, specifically data centers. The legislation, slated for discussion by the Council Committee on Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development on July 7th, seeks to establish a clear definition for "data center."
The bill's primary objective is to differentiate data centers from data processing facilities, which are currently allowed in industrial-commercial mixed-use (MCX) zoning districts. This distinction is crucial because data centers are currently not permitted in Hawaiʻi County under Section 25-4-4 of the County Code. The proposed ordinance explicitly aims to prevent data centers from being considered a permitted use by virtue of their resemblance to data processing facilities.
This initiative comes as communities nationwide express increasing concerns about the substantial water and energy demands of data centers, as well as their local environmental and neighborhood impacts. The bill is a proactive measure to ensure data center development does not occur within the county.