Fort Worth’s proposed zoning and development ordinance on data centers — a first of its kind — received a 7-4 vote of denial before it heads to City Council. Zoning commissioners expressed a need for more details, stricter regulations and more time to review the ordinance.
Before making a vote, all commissioners agreed the city needs to evaluate proposed changes to the ordinance. Changes they recommended included setback distances and which industrial zones data centers can operate in.
Some commissioners said there is a need for more details, clarifications and time to consider the zoning ordinance.
“I can appreciate the work, it’s insufficient at this time,” Commissioner Matt McCoy said. “It’s difficult to vote on something that has a lot of variables.”
The recommended regulations would amend Fort Worth’s zoning and development ordinance to prohibit cryptocurrency mining and only allow data centers to be built in areas zoned industrial.
The suggested regulations would also require data centers to meet standards for allowable distance between the facilities and homes, lighting and landscaping.
The proposals were first presented to council members June 2 by Jesica McEachern, assistant city manager. Also presented in that meeting were Fort Worth staffers’ separate recommended policies for data centers on business incentives, water, wastewater and noise.
Those suggested policies come as residents have banded together to voice their opposition to proposed data centers, including recent facilities planned for south Fort Worth, citing concerns about noise and impact on energy and water supplies.
Community-led advocacy efforts have taken place across the country in response to a development boom in data centers, including in North Texas.
Months before the June 2 meeting, Fort Worth officials began exploring regulations with input from various city departments including the water utility, development services and economic development. City staffers also included input from data center developers, McEachern said.
“We know that we have a lot of interest in this topic,” McEachern told commissioners Wednesday. “We have had them here in Fort Worth for over 20 years. What is new is … this true boom in interest around data centers.”
Fort Worth does not currently have a data center-specific ordinance. McEachern prefaced that lawmakers could amend statewide regulations on data centers in next year’s legislative session. This could require city officials to revisit its data center policies, if they are approved.
“Our staff recommendation is that we go ahead and enhance our rules and we get some good development practices in place,” McEachern said.
Fort Worth council members will again be presented with the proposed zoning regulations in an Aug. 4 meeting, to include feedback from the public and additional amendments, if any. Council members will make the final vote on all data center proposals Aug. 11.
The proposed zoning ordinance also calls for data centers to meet required development standards. That includes maintaining the facilities’ distance of at least 250 feet away from homes.
That’s an increase from distance required by Fort Worth’s existing zoning standards, which says industrial developments must be located at least 20 feet from the front of a residential property.
That recommended threshold may change, McEachern said, as Fort Worth receives feedback through July 15. In conversations with the public, residents showed greatest concern regarding setbacks, requesting larger distances be mandated between data centers and neighboring properties, McEachern said.
The city also recommends data centers have standby generators located no closer than 300 feet from homes and that the equipment be screened or covered.
Last summer, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 6, requiring data centers with large electricity demands — 75 megawatts — to have backup power generation, curtailing utility costs and strain on the electric grid.
Also among zoning recommendations is rooftop cooling equipment located behind an acoustic barrier — a structure that intercepts the transmission of sound — that is between 1 to 1 ½ times the height of the equipment.
Also recommended is extending Fort Worth’s regulations on lighting in commercial districts to apply to similarly zoned areas that have multifamily homes adjacent to data centers. City staffers may later recommend the requirement of downward facing lighting, McEachern said.
Data centers would also be required to plant evergreen trees, install fencing and implement a landscape buffer spanning 50 feet along neighboring homes.
Commissioner Rodney Mayo asked McEachern to describe the city’s approach to crafting these policies while allowing data centers to implement more sustainable, modern practices.
She said Fort Worth officials explore regulations that protect both developers and the community.
For example, the city is recommending a requirement that data centers be equipped with closed-loop cooling systems, which would recycle water and lessen the amount of resources that are evaporated.
Officials want to be ahead of those projects by ensuring interested developers already meet zoning requirements as cases are reviewed, McEachern explained.
“The industry is hearing the public’s concerns and they themselves are trying to now design their sites to be really good neighbors, to be even better,” McEachern said.
The prohibition of cryptocurrency mining was a point of confusion for some commissioners at Wednesday’s meeting due to discrepancies between the city’s presentation and the ordinance’s text.
McCoy asked for clarification on how the city makes distinctions between data centers’ primary uses.
The policy reflected in the city presentation said cryptocurrency mining would be prohibited as a data center’s primary use. However, the proposed ordinance text reads that cryptocurrency mining is prohibited in nonresidential areas. McEachern and a city attorney clarified cryptocurrency would be prohibited entirely.
Commissioner Jeremy Raines encouraged residents at the public hearing to speak only to issues that the city can control. McEachern informed council members and zoning commissioners that Fort Worth does not have regulatory authority on air quality, energy usage and regional water supplies.
Lydia Faith, a member of advocacy group Tarrant4Change, asked commissioners to limit data centers to only operate in heavy industrial zones.
Under the proposed ordinance, data centers would be allowed in light, medium and heavy industrially zoned areas. Faith said Fort Worth’s historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are inundated with industrial sites, drawing concern about pollution.
“Corporations get up and say, ‘We’re going to be a good neighbor,’ and then they never follow (through with) it,” Faith said.
Ambika Sharma, with the 817 Gather group, commended commissioners Charles Edmonds and McCoy for vocalizing that not all data centers are the same.
“Where I take offense is we are treating all data centers equally,” Sharma said.
She said that setbacks between properties, including homes and hospitals, and data centers should reach a minimum of a 1-mile radius. Similar to other residents in opposition, Sharma also urged commissioners to consider a moratorium to pause data center developments and be “more thoughtful” in which businesses Fort Worth attracts.
“These should be treated as heavy industrial and not light industrial because that is really what they are,” Sharma said. “Let’s call it what it is.”
Before public comment, Edmonds suggested the city focus more on crafting regulation for larger data center developments. He also asked the city to explore how data centers of varying sizes can emit different types of noise.
“They’re not one size fits all,” Edmonds said.
Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
The Report’s environment coverage is supported by the Marilyn Brachman Hoffman Foundation.
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