The Wright City Board of Aldermen approved a new ordinance Thursday, Aug. 27, regulating any future data centers that developers may want to bring to town.

In addition to the city’s current M-1 light industrial and M-2 heavy industrial zoning districts, the recently approved ordinance establishes a new zoning classification, M-3, “Data Center Planned Development District.”

The ordinance prohibits data centers anywhere but in the M-3 zoning district, and imposes various requirements for the facilities. Data centers must have minimum 500-foot setbacks from abutting residential and agricultural property lines, and “shall provide at a minimum, 100-foot landscaped buffers, berms, and screening.” Applicants to develop data centers must pay a $2,500 filing fee.

Data center applicants must also submit a legal description of the property, a site development plan, and various information, including a written statement “describing the proposed operation of the facility, including maximum power demand, cooling technology, anticipated water use, emergency power generation, and projected construction schedule.”

Applicants must also submit information about their data center’s “proposed cooling system, sources of energy, and whether the facility plans provide its own energy through any renewable sources,” according to the ordinance.

During public comment prior to approval of the data center ordinance, resident Rita Key asked if the city would be willing to adopt a moratorium on the facilities.

City Attorney Paul Rost said that the city could put a complete moratorium on data centers, but he and others pointed out that a data center could still be developed right outside the city limits.

“One of the things that we’ve seen in communities surrounding us is they’ve been approached by data centers,” Alderwoman Karey Owens said. “They didn’t have any ordinances or any idea of what was good, what was not, and they ended up getting railroaded in a lot of instances by these companies who — that’s what they do, right?”

Owens noted that the city has been working on its ordinance for several months. Key said that no matter what ordinance the city would approve, data center developers may still try to get around the regulations.

“The first step is having something in place that they have to work around. Otherwise they come in and there are no rules,” Mayor Michelle Heiliger said.

“At least if we have a policy in place, or something, an ordinance, a ruling, then even if they think of coming here, they already know what they have to adhere to.”

The city has not yet been approached by any data center developers, Owens said. She added, however, that she has been hearing rumors about one of the facilities coming to town since before she was on the board, and wouldn’t be surprised if one showed up anytime.

“One of the things that I’ve noticed is that when communities are starting to put moratoriums on it, it’s to give themselves time to do exactly what we’ve been doing for the past six months,” Owens said.

She added that if the city were to put a moratorium on data centers, but one were to be built anyway in unincorporated Warren County right outside the city limits, Wright City would “still feel all the negative impacts of that without having any of the positive impacts.”

Alderman Don Andrews said Wright City’s new data center ordinance is restrictive enough that it almost amounts to a moratorium. 

“I’ve been reading through this, and it’s pretty hefty,” said Alderman Russ Lyons. “It’s got a lot of stuff in there. And if I was a data center wanting to come to this town, I think I would jump to another town that doesn’t have regulations.”

Mayor Heiliger noted that the city solicited extensive public feedback on the ordinance.

“This isn’t something that happened overnight. This isn’t something that we’ve tried to hide. This has been done very publicly with a lot of collaboration,” she said.

The vote to approve the data center ordinance was unanimous.