Microsoft’s Texas Research Park data center is seen in far West Bexar County on Monday. The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and Public Citizen’s Texas Office support implementing special use permitting to manage and regulate new data centers in San Antonio.
Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
On direction from the San Antonio City Council, the city’s Development Services Department has been tasked with crafting ways to manage new data centers here. At a City Council briefing on Oct. 14, the department presented two options, with Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones presenting a third option.
Option One, which was reported as the recommendation of a stakeholders group that Development Services had convened to devise new regulations for data centers, would mainly support the status quo with minimal new regulations.
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The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and Public Citizen’s Texas Office, both members of the stakeholders group, are concerned that labeling Option One as the group’s recommendation implies that we endorse it, which we most adamantly do not.
Option One would continue the city’s current practice, in which applications to locate new data centers in San Antonio are considered “permitted by right.” This means there are no opportunities for public consideration of the impacts that new data centers will have on the communities where they are built. As long as they meet the minimal standards outlined by the city, their permits will be approved automatically.
As District 6 Council Member Ric Galvan, who has the largest number of data centers in his district, has pointed out, this practice has failed to address negative impacts of data centers on the communities he represents.
In contrast, Option Two would require a special use permit for each new request to locate a data center in San Antonio. This would yield opportunities for public meetings to inform and enable the public to consider these requests, thereby providing an opportunity to craft agreements that address specific community concerns. The City Council would be required to vote on each application. The Aquifer Alliance and Public Citizen support Option Two.
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At the Oct. 14 City Council meeting, Jones added Option Three, which would also require special use permitting, adding some other requirements that we would also support. Galvan and the mayor support this option.
Where do our other council representatives stand on this issue? District 7 Council Member Marina Alderete Gavito and District 10 Council Member Marc Whyte have stated support for Option One — that new data centers be permitted by right. The others either supported Option Two and/or Three or did not express a preference.
Six votes on Oct. 29, when the City Council is expected to take up this issue, will determine where San Antonio stands on regulating new data centers here.
It is our position that special use permitting would better accommodate the development of information technology infrastructure in San Antonio by requiring additional safeguards where warranted while potentially reducing restrictions for data centers in the most heavily industrialized zones, where required buffers and other restrictions may not be needed.
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Seven zoning categories are recommended for the locations of data centers in the new rules. While we believe that six of these zoning categories are appropriate, we disagree that the C-3 general commercial category should be included. Another stakeholder, the San Antonio Manufacturers Association, joined us in this recommendation.
Data centers operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, generating significant levels of noise, and air and light pollution. While they may appear similar to other commercial buildings, such as big-box stores, noise and other nuisances associated with data center operations could have negative impacts on neighboring stores and public facilities that are the appropriate designees of C-3 general commercial zoning.
Additionally, general commercial districts are built in locations intended to serve residential areas, so data centers in these zones are likely to impact nearby neighborhoods.
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Most cities nationwide, including our neighbor New Braunfels, have adopted or are considering the requirement of special use permits for new data centers. We hope concerned San Antonians will contact their City Council representatives to urge them to do the same.
Annalisa Peace is executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance.