Texas’ state capital may have come up with the most unique way of handling data centers yet — treat them like adult-oriented businesses.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and the city council are mulling over a suggestion from city officials tasked by the council recently to formulate a set of land development rules for classifying data centers.
Austin is just one of hundreds of entities around the US trying to develop fair rules for data centers, which are also considered to be loud by some residents who live near them because of the constant hum of cooling devices and fans that keep the centers running smoothly.
In a memo, Austin city staffers suggested the mayor and council should treat the new buildings, often brightly-lit at night, as “undesirable” for residential neighborhoods, much like the city treats adult-oriented businesses like cabarets and strip clubs.
The high-speed data processing inside the centers requires constant electricity for air conditioners and fans to keep the electronics from overheating, and that not only draws lots of electricity from local sources, it also annoys neighbors with the daily hum.
And some residents in Austin have been protesting the building of local data centers, just as in other cities, because of nationwide publicity that some of the buildings are drawing so much power that it’s causing electricity prices to rise.
Austin City Councilmember Mike Siegel told KXAN that while he doesn’t expect ordinances to classify data centers before the spring, he said he does expect large data centers to be banned in the Austin area by the end of the year.