The Economic Development Objectives Committee met Feb. 4 to discuss draft regulations for data centers that would apply to any new developments in unincorporated Jefferson County.
The meeting was the first held to review regulations drafted by the County Services department, based on recommendations the committee has handed down for the past two months.
The committee has met Dec. 3, 10, 17 and Jan. 7 to discuss data centers, including meetings dedicated to energy and water usage, community benefit agreements, and gathering first-hand accounts from other community leaders living and working in places where data centers have already been built.
A data center is a building or group of buildings that houses equipment needed for computing, such as routers, servers, switches, firewalls and storage systems.
The next meeting, to continue the regulations discussion, will be held at 3 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Ken Waller Memorial Building, formerly called the Jefferson County Administration Center, 729 Maple St., in Hillsboro.
The committee, which discusses a variety of topics related to economic growth in the county, is made up of Jefferson County Council members, as well as volunteer members Chris Howard, a Cedar Hill resident seeking the Republican nomination for Jefferson County executive in 2026; Clinton McBride, a government affairs director for LiUNA Local 110; and Bobby Kaye, an Imperial resident and president of the Lorenzen Candle Corp. Councilman Brian Haskins (District 1, High Ridge) was absent from the meeting.
County Services Director Mitch Bair said the proposed regulations would not apply to incorporated areas in the county, such as the city of Festus or Arnold. Any proposed data center development would be required to send in a development plan, subject to approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission and County Council, regardless of the current zoning of the land on which the data center is proposed to be built, Bair said.
Data centers will be required to be built in an industrial and business-zoned district, he said.
“I got a lot of great input from members of the committee (on the regulations),” Bair said. “We had a lot of great conversations and also found a few things that I missed. I want to make sure we get this right for the residents of this county.
“These regulations and this project to create regulations represent a proactive approach to regulating data centers in unincorporated areas of Jefferson County. Currently, there is no project, there is no application (for proposed data centers).”
Bair said his staff will likely present the proposed regulations at the March 12 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. at the Ken Waller Memorial Building.
Following the hearing, the County Council will vote to either approve or deny the regulations at one of their April regular meetings, Bair said.
The proposed regulations can be viewed under the Data Center Information tab on the county’s website, jeffcomo.org.
Highlights
If approved, the data center regulations would become Article X, Section 400.3660-400.3790 of the county’s Unified Development Order (UDO).
Article X outlines the county’s purpose for imposing these regulations; provides definitions for relevant terms; and outlines requirements of developers, such as a detailed environmental and community impact analysis, siting and building design criteria and an expansive community benefit agreement.
The article requires data centers to comply with sound limits on all equipment used, including backup generators. The acceptable level of noise allowed from a data center is 55 decibels during the daytime, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 50 decibels at night, 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. According to a Yale University comparison chart, 55 decibels is equal to the sound of a household refrigerator.
The article requires data center developers to submit a utility capacity letter with their permit application, confirming there is sufficient energy grid capacity for the proposed load to the center and that there will be no adverse impacts to residential customers. The centers will also be required to procure at least 40 percent of their annual electricity from renewable sources, such as solar panels.
The article states that developers will be required to connect to the public water and sewer utilities and will be required to demonstrate an adequate water supply that shows no adverse impacts on the supply for nearby residents.
Bair said the side benefit of requiring data centers to connect to the public water system is the potential expansion of water and sewer infrastructure. Developers would be required to pay for the extension of utilities to their property, potentially allowing nearby residents to join on as well.
The article’s monitoring and compliance section states that operators must submit annual certifications of compliance for noise, lighting and water performance, updated generator testing schedules and consumption data, upon request. Any complaints would trigger a “prompt county investigation,” and violations will be subject to penalties already outlined in the UDO.
The community benefit agreement requirement in the article ensures large-scale data centers “provide measurable, enforceable and lasting benefits to Jefferson County and its residents, while mitigating impacts associated with intensive land use, energy consumption, infrastructure demands and environmental effects.”
The developer must agree to make an annual payment to the county, which will be used for parks, trails and conservation projects; roads and bridge development; utility and infrastructure planning; public safety and emergency services; and broadband and digital inclusion initiatives.
The community benefit agreement also includes a workplace and development clause. At least 50 percent of construction labor hours relating to the development of data centers should be performed by Jefferson County residents, with the remaining 50 percent coming from the St. Louis area. Additionally, the developer is required to offer internships or training opportunities to county residents. According to the article, at least 50 percent of the full-time employment positions at the data center should be filled by county residents.
Tweaks
Members of the committee said they would like to see certain tweaks made or language added to the draft before the next meeting.
Many members agreed that they would like to see separate buffer zone requirements for data centers in residential areas versus industrial or commercial areas. For example, a data center built near a neighborhood would require a larger buffer zone, whereas a center built near a factory could have a smaller buffer zone. Currently, the draft outlines different permissible buffers for data centers of various sizes.
Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) mentioned he would like to see a requirement to use plants native to Missouri in the required buffer zones surrounding the data centers.
Members agreed that the required Data Center Decommissioning and Site Remediation Plan must be updated every five years that the data center is in operation. According to the article, this requirement ensures the data center developer has a closure plan in place in case the project goes belly-up.
McBride added that the workplace and development clause in the community benefit agreement may be too stringent.
“Some of this work is highly specialized,” he said. “The concern is that we are potentially setting up unattainable goals. I do know that some of these jobs are pretty difficult. Clearly, there aren’t a lot of data centers here, so there aren’t a lot of people who have done that work here. I just want to make sure we’re not boxing ourselves out.”
Bair said the department can add language to the agreement that the developers hire as locally as possible, in a “good faith effort” to comply with the county’s requirements.
“This is a community benefits agreement, and our community is Jefferson County, so we should be ensuring we can do everything we can for this community,” said Councilman Tim Brown (District 6, De Soto).