The City of Bloomington on Tuesday released amended draft data center regulations, with indications that the debate over the issue could continue for six more months.
Bloomington's initial moratorium on data center projects that use 5 or more megawatts of power was set to expire Nov. 27.
Bloomington’s planning commission is expected to vote at its next meeting Nov. 16 whether to recommend the city extend that moratorium for six more months. The public will be allowed to testify at that hearing, as dozens did during the commission's October meeting.
Any recommendations would ultimately need city council approval.
The commission is still reviewing draft regulations on data centers. Several changes were made following that first hearing in October, and some provisions must still be decided.
PDF: Read the updated draft regulations
What changed
Non-disclosure agreements would be banned for all data center projects — not just hyperscale ones — under the newest draft regulations.
Community benefit agreements would still be required for only hyperscale projects.
Data centers would be required to store onsite at least 25% of its peak energy demand for at least four hours. The prior draft regulations required 50% energy supply for 15 minutes.
There are more specific fees in place for violations. Previously the fines for code violations were between $100 and $750 per day. The most recent draft regulations list the following penalties:
- between $150 and $1,000 per code violation per day
- between $300 and $2,000 per use provisions violation per day
- between $450 and $3,000 per performance or operational standard per day
The city could still pursue an administrative suit to enforce compliance or revoke a special use permit for a hyperscale data center.
What’s new
Several provisions were added to the draft regulations released Tuesday.
One portion added a definition for renewable energy, which is considered electrical power derived from natural resources that is replenished at a higher rate than it is consumed. Energy produced by fossil fuels like coal, oil or natural gas do not count as renewable energy even if paired with carbon capture technology.
Another provision would require any data center developer that plans to use internal combustion engines during construction or operation to provide a report on air quality impacts and make sure its emissions follow state and federal guidelines. Internal combustion engines include construction equipment, but also generators. The report must evaluate how those emissions impact air quality within a three-mile radius. That report must assume generators would run at the same time for at least 72 hours.
A developer would also need to install air quality protection equipment alongside noise-dampening measures.
If the report finds the developer or operator violated federal or state air quality rules, they must reduce their emissions or “invest in local transportation or community resources that support the reduction of an equivalent level of mobile emissions,” like electric vehicle chargers or “provision of electric vehicles for public or quasi-public vehicle fleets.”
The latest draft regulations add on to the requirements of a development agreement between the data center operator and the city, saying each yearly report must include its violations from the previous year and its efforts to come into compliance.
The use of pre- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAs] and persistent organic pollutants would be prohibited in cooling water systems.
Additionally, a data center’s water use would be classified as “water hauling” and would be subject to restrictions in the event of a drought. That provision ties in with the city’s Water Emergency Response Ordinance.
Water hauling is defined as “water sold by the City of Bloomington at bulk dispensing facility for use at a location other than the location where it was purchased,” under city code.
The exact restrictions depend on the severity of the drought situation. In the event of a moderate drought for example, a water hauling operation would have its rate doubled. During a severe drought, the rate would triple and the water purchasing would be limited to certain hours.
Regarding noise and vibrations, the draft regulations require monitoring equipment to be spaced out 500 feet apart within 1,000 feet of homes, hospitals, schools or daycares.
“Real-time monitoring results shall be displayed either on-site or at a location visible from a public right-of-way or on the publicly accessible website,” the regulations read. The operator must keep that data for three years and give it to the city within five days of receiving a request.
The draft regulations would also establish a “community reporting website,” which will be maintained by the operator and updated on a quarterly basis.
The website must be publicly accessible and include the status of any community benefit agreement provisions, proposed changes to data center operations including generator use, and warnings about potential material spills or air quality effects. The website must also include contact information for the facility manager or some party responsible for investigating complaints.
What’s up in the air
Some portions of the regulations include options for the Bloomington Planning Commission based on feedback.
For instance, city staff laid out three options for addressing concern over data center size and classification.
The draft regulations create three distinct categories: accessory, small scale commercial and hyperscale. Hyperscale data centers would be any operation that uses 10 or more megawatts of power and is larger than 10 acres.
The new draft regulations acknowledge “some feel it is not restrictive enough.” City staff offer four options:
- Keep the definitions the same
- Amend the definition of hyperscale to any data center bigger than 10 acres, regardless of energy usage
- Amend the definition of hyperscale to any data center bigger than 10 acres and using more than 5 megawatts of power
- Amend the definition of hyperscale to mean data centers that are bigger than 20 acres and use more than 50 megawatts of power
The report lists potential cons of each choice. The third option “may be seen as out of touch with technical realities,” according to staff, because of the limit it places on power. The last option “may not reflect community perception of impacts or desire to restrict data center uses.”
Another section up for debate relates to how far generators and chilling devices must be from certain buildings.
The current draft would require rooftop chilling devices to be at least 500 feet away from homes, hospitals, schools or daycares. Ground chilling devices would need to be 1,000 feet away.
As for generators, rooftop ones would be prohibited, and generators on the ground must be at least 500 feet away from homes, hospitals, schools or daycares.
Staff lay out four options for amending those rules:
- Keeping the regulations as they are
- Restrict rooftop chilling devices and ground-level generators to 1,000 feet away from homes, hospitals, schools or daycares
- Restrict rooftop chilling devices to 1,500 feet
- Restrict all chilling devices and generators to a distance greater than 1,500 feet
As with the prior set of options, city staff laid out its “rationale” and “caveat” for each option. The second and third options align with current data center restrictions in the city of Aurora. For their caveat, city staff said the second option would limit location options, and that the third and fourth options would “effectively ban any hyperscale data center use.”
“[The regulations] may be found to be unenforceable and/or invalidated in court,” the comments from staff read.
