Large data centers could be banned from Dayton under zoning proposal

The Dayton City Plan Board has approved a recommendation to prohibit large data centers within the city and will present a proposed 180-day moratorium to Dayton city commissioners for consideration at their April 22 meeting. City planning officials stated that these zoning code amendments are intended to align the city's regulations with best practices, specifically addressing property uses that consume substantial amounts of water or electrical supply, which could risk regional rate increases. The proposed amendment defines large data centers broadly to include facilities primarily housing infrastructure for building, running, delivering, or transmitting technological applications and services, or for storing and managing data, encompassing activities like cryptocurrency mining and server farms. Jeff Green, a Dayton Planner, clarified that existing local data centers, such as the three currently owned by Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), would be grandfathered in and not impacted by the ban or moratorium. Internal IT departments or server rooms within businesses would also not be affected. The City Plan Board's decision followed a January work session where staff highlighted the current lack of specific data center regulations. The primary focus is on large-scale facilities due to their potential impact on surrounding properties. If passed, the 180-day moratorium would provide the city with time to formally complete the zoning code text amendment process without new data center applications being submitted.