North Richland Hills City Hall.
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North Richland Hills council members unanimously voted to amend zoning requirements for data centers that want to locate in the city.
After a public hearing Monday, July 27, the council voted to require that data centers must have specific use permits before they can operate. Councilman Matt Blake was absent because of work.
Planning Director Cori Reaume told the council that the specific use permits means city staff would consider noise, water systems and effects of data centers on adjacent properties. She added that there are specific use permits for other types of businesses, including drive-thru restaurants and secondhand goods sales.
Reaume also said that a FlashVote survey went out to residents asking them to list their top four concerns about data centers. Those concerns included high water use, noise from backup generators and the concern that tax revenues wouldn’t cover the infrastructure demands that data centers would cause.
During the public hearing, speakers shared similar concerns.
Resident Karen Martin said the recommendation for specific use permits is a “good starting place.”
“Time is of the essence because our doors are open,” she said. Martin also said she is worried about the grid, although improvements have been made. She provided information packets to the council members and said she had concerns about “heat islands” from data centers.
North Richland Hills data center regulations
North Richland Hills adopted data center regulations in June 2025 to address the new use. Some requirements include specifying that data centers larger than 10,000 square feet are allowed on industrial property by right, or on commercial property with a specific use permit.
All data centers have to meet certain requirements, including completely enclosing systems used for cooling, ventilation and power generation — or if not “mechanically possible,” screen off the equipment by a wall or other barrier, which also must be at least 100 feet from the nearest residential property.
If generators are on site, they must be tested from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
After the zoning regulations were adopted last year, a data center developer submitted a site plan and a building permit application for a 12,000-square-foot data center at 6401 Wuliger Way.
The developer and city collaborated on changes such as:
Moving the required masonry screening wall in from the property line to install at a higher grade that would provide more screeningMoving the cooling equipment to the opposite side of the building to separate further from residential propertiesDesigning the building structure in a way that it fully screens the cooling equipment from the residential propertiesSelecting screening wall design (to surround cooling equipment) that allows for better architectural detail/design
The modifications were done as a courtesy, rather than something North Richland Hills required, according to information on the city’s website.
Last month, Mayor Jack McCarty stated that he has serious concerns about data centers locating near homes and apartments saying they could bring more noise and higher electricity costs.
McCarty made his comments after a June 23 meeting with Provident, a developer who is proposing building a 21-acre data center at 5201 Rufe Snow Drive, which is in a commercial area near a Walmart and Home Depot.
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With my guide dog Freddie, I keep tabs on growth, economic development and other issues in Northeast Tarrant cities and other communities near Fort Worth. I’ve been a reporter at the Star-Telegram for 34 years.