Dallas could soon begin the process of developing new regulations for data centers.
A memo from Dallas City Council Member Chad West, signed by four other council members, requests that the City Council consider authorizing a public hearing on potential changes to the Dallas Development Code.
The Aug. 11 memo calls for the item to be referred to a council committee and placed on a regular City Council voting agenda within 30 days. The council would consider authorizing a public hearing on possible amendments to Chapters 51 and 51A of the Dallas Development Code.
The potential changes could amend regulations for communications exchange facilities or establish “data center” as a new land use with its own regulations.
The memo emphasizes that the request is only to authorize a public hearing and would not amend the development code at this time.
“Currently, data centers are allowed by-right in many non-residential areas with little oversight,” West said on social media. “I am hopeful we can amend the code to give Dallas residents and council more say on if and how data centers are to be built in our city.”
In the memo, council members cite growing land-use concerns as data center development expands across North Texas.
Dallas currently categorizes data centers under the city’s communications exchange facility land use. Those facilities are allowed by right in many non-residential and mixed-use zoning districts, but council members said the existing regulations “fall short of a more modern local regulatory landscape.”
The council members are asking city staff to research planning and development practices in other cities and recommend potential changes to Dallas’ development code.
The request comes as other Texas cities consider tighter restrictions on data center development.
Fort Worth has begun the lengthy legal process required under state law to potentially enact a temporary moratorium on new data center development applications while the city works on its regulatory framework.
Gov. Greg Abbott has also directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to conduct a comprehensive audit of data centers seeking to connect to the state’s power grid. Abbott’s Aug. 3 directive requires the audit to be completed before any of those projects can move forward through ERCOT’s interconnection process.