Last week Ascension’s Planning Commission considered six revisions to the parish’s development code. The proposed revisions scheduled for consideration on Wednesday, included the addition of an ordinance “to govern the permitting and construction of high impact development facilities (HIDF). This includes Crypto Mining and Data Centers.”
Planning and Development Director Eric Poche explained that the code is silent on the issue. Among the Planning Commission’s many duties, recommending ordinances (or not) to the Parish Council when need is identified. HIDF will have to wait for another day as the proposed ordinance was “tabled” without date (which is actually, memo to Gonzales’ City Council, a deferral. To “table” and agenda item means it will be brought back for vote at an identified time).
The draft ordinance reads, in part:
HIDFs may be permitted in the following Zoning districts, subject to the applicable minimum standards: Mixed Use corridors (MU), Crossroad Commercial (CC), Heavy Industrial (HI), Medium Industrial (MI) and Light Industrial (LI).
Applicability: This ordinance applies to any land use where High Impact Development Facilities are constructed in the unincorporated areas of Ascension Parish. High Impact Development Facilities are defined as:
1. Class I – Data Center – A facility, the primary purpose of which is the storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data, which houses computer and/or network equipment, systems, servers, appliances, and other associated components related to digital data operations. Such facility may include air handlers, power generators, water cooling, storage facilities, utility substations, and other associated utility infrastructure to support sustained operations at the data center.
2. Class II – Cryptocurrency Data Center – Leased, owned, or used boundaries or areas of floor space and/or land devoted to the operating data processing equipment for commercial Cryptocurrency Mining; excludes spaces for commercial office, storage, shipping, and receiving, warehousing, or any other space that is not for electronic processing.
3. Class II – Cryptocurrency Server Farm – Four or more interconnected computers /miners housed together in a single facility whose primary function is to perform cryptocurrency mining or associated data processing.
Lot size: Minimum lot size of the facility shall be twenty (20) contiguous acres or greater.
Locational, Screening and Mitigation Requirements:
No high impact development, as defined herein, on a parcel or parcels of land shall be permitted, constructed, operated, or maintained except in accordance with the following standards:
1. Separation. The location of the closest point of a principal use, active area, building, structure or outdoor storage of a high impact development use shall be the minimum distance (measured in feet)
specified in Paragraph H of this Section from the nearest property line for any existing;a) Public and Private School
b) Childcare institution/facilities
c) Daycare center
d) Hospital
e) Family care, intermediate care and nursing care facilities,
f) Retirement facility or assisted living institution
g) Correctional Institution (including local jail and state prisons
h) Dwelling unit
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