To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Katherine Smith, Acting Director, Public Works & Development
Prepared By:
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Raye Fields, Planner II, Public Works & Development; Zach Blazek, Senior Planner, Public Works & Development
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presenter
Presenter: Raye Fields, Planner II, Public Works & Development; Zach Blazek, Senior Planner, Public Works & Development
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Subject:
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1:30 PM *Data Center Environmental & Regulatory Follow-up Discussion for Potential Land Development Code Updates
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
Staff is seeking direction from the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) concerning potential updates to the Land Development Code (LDC) related to data center regulations.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Sustainable Growth and Infrastructure - Support environmentally responsible development and energy efficiency in county operations.
Background and Discussion: Data centers have been increasingly in the public eye recently, and staff have received inquiries about where our land development regulations land on this matter. A data center is a centralized physical facility or virtual environment designed to house, manage, process, and distribute large amounts of critical data and applications. Jurisdictions across the state of Colorado are in the process of developing policies surrounding data centers or have implemented policies already.
The Arapahoe County Land Development Code (LDC) does not define “data center”, nor is “data center” listed in the Permitted Use Table. Per Section 3-1.2, Unlisted Uses, “[u]ses not specifically listed in the Permitted Use Table or reasonably similar to those uses listed in any particular zone district shall be deemed excluded from the particular zone district.” Currently, data centers do not fit into any category of use in the LDC, and are not listed in a particular zone district; therefore they are not permitted as a standalone use in Unincorporated Arapahoe Count...
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