The city of Fayetteville is strengthening its regulations on data centers. On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to approve changes to an ordinance it adopted in June to place restrictions around data center development and operations, mostly requiring reporting and environmental standards. The 10 changes adopted include stronger protections for noise levels, limits on water and energy use and harsher penalties for violating city code. Council member Scott Berna, who brought the ordinance, called it model legislation.
"Well, I think it addresses all of the areas by which other communities have identified problems. It addresses water, it addresses power usage, it addresses how it affects the neighboring citizens and neighboring communities. We have made it very difficult to do a data center, but if you want to do one, here's the rules. Play within the rules that we've given you and you can develop one."
Data centers are large facilities that house computer hardware used to store and process information. The Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 makes it illegal for cities to ban data centers outright, but municipalities can regulate them. No centers yet operate in the city of Fayetteville, but proposed projects around the state had other cities and counties grappling with how to handle them. The council voted 7-0 to pass the ordinance.
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