On Wednesday, the Hobart City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that adds new rules for data centers to the city's zoning code.
The legislation aims to both mitigate the facilities aural and visual impact on surrounding areas and to provide more clarity to developers.
Hobart's zoning code already contains regulations for data centers under the city's "light manufacturing" (M-1) category. Demand for the facilities, whose computer arrays store, process and transmit information on a massive scale, has surged in recent years, in part due to the needs of artificial intelligence systems.
The existing code sets limits on the noise level that any M-1 facility can produce. The maximum permitted decibel level measurable along a facility's property lines ranges from 37 decibels— roughly equivalent to a quiet conversation — to 73 decibels — closer to the level of a vacuum cleaner. The exact level allowed depends on whether the property abuts a residential or commercial area and is on the frequency of the sound produced.
The new ordinance caps the acceptable noise level for a data center at 65 decibels along all property lines "except during emergencies caused by power outages."
"It just makes performance standards clear and easier to file from a developer point of view," zoning administrator Connor Miller told The Times. "And from a resident point of view, it makes more sense to follow this set of standards as opposed to ones that are set for a variety of different uses under the M-1 zoning."
The ordinance also lays out a data center-specific building height limit of 75 feet, additionally providing that "rooftop mechanical equipment and elevator or stairwell penthouses may extend above the maximum height provided they are set back from the building facade and screened from public view." Existing M-1 height limits are otherwise based on the size of the lot on which the facility sits.
Another section dictates that multi-building data center complexes "shall face any equipment areas inward for optimal screening to the maximum extent practical."
In February, the Hobart City Council approved a M-1 zoning change sought by the prospective developers of the new facility, an entity called Hobart Devco, LLC. The proposal had the backing of local labor groups, but some community members objected, naming noise among their concerns.
Mayor Josh Huddlestun told The Times that he hopes the new noise rules help "put the public at ease."
"The developers have told us that they're not even concerned with that level of noise," the mayor said. "So (we are) just adding that in so that the public can see that, 'Hey, we are making sure that you are protected because there is that fear of the noise.'"
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