Housing, Urban Development and Zoning - Regular Meeting

All right. I think it's in the interest of everybody's time this evening, uh maybe we will jump ahead. Um thanks for being here again. I just really appreciate for anybody attending tonight or watching this recording late later. Um you taking your time to dig into this issue with us. I'm going to just give you a little bit of an outline for how we're going to use our time this evening. Um, first we're going to start with just introductions of who's on this call on the city side. A little bit of background on how we got to where we are with data centers and zoning regulations in the city of St. Louis. Then take a step back and just share kind of what we know about this issue and specifically how the zoning regulations are responding to some of the concerns and opportunities raised specifically by data centers as a use. um share some of the feedback we've received and how that shaped updates to the zoning regulations that Ben will share with you, the updated zoning framework, and then um Q&A, which actually we're going to be doing throughout. We're going to pause at the end of each section to take any questions that um the public has. Uh but then just remind folks about the next steps and this process of establishing regulations. Um so just want to start by sharing a little bit about um who is uh on the panelists here tonight from the city of St. Louis. We have representatives from across city departments that all touch aspects of this issue uh or the the land use of data centers and their development in the city. Uh so my name is Miriam Keller. I'm with the city's planning and urban design agency. We also have representatives from the building division, the city councelor's office, the health department. um the sustainability office within the planning urban design agency SLDC and uh the water division. So as we go through I I'm certain that different parts of the presentation also questions that the

community may have um will be best answered by uh those representatives and other departments. So just really grateful for them to be here tonight with us because this has been and will continue to be a team effort. So just backing up to share sort of where we've been as a city in the process of regulating data centers and where we are today. So you know up to this point before even April of last year there were 12 or maybe a few more smaller data centers permitted in the city as by right uses. So that means um developers submitted an application uh they were reviewed either as office or warehousing. those were sort of the closest definitions in our zoning code and in most cases those uses were permitted by right and so the applications were approved but in April of last year um the planning commission um just kind of flagged it as an issue to look into uh said hey we don't know that much about this but these seem to be a growing um type of development in the city want to take a look at on this but between April and September the city started to become aware of kind of in the city and in the region some really large proposals sort of a new type a new scale relative to what had been operating in the city and the planning urban design agency and planning commission recommended a temporary moratorum until we could get regulations in place in that same month September of 2025 the mayor and board of aldermen responded saying you know well let's get an interim framework in place um and then move forward with developing regulations. So, uh that's what we've been working on as a staff. In February, we presented a preliminary zoning framework um to the planning commission. There was a public hearing there. We solicited feedback

that night um and then kind of following through written comment. Uh and I'll I'll note other regulations are also in the process of being developed. We'll share a little bit more about those just at a high level through uh the presentation. Um but uh tonight and this month we are presenting an updated zoning framework. We will present um these to the planning commission a week from tonight, Monday, May 18th, hold a second public hearing to get more feedback and the planning commission will debate the regulations, have the opportunity to recommend them to the board of aldermen, and that's kind of the the next key step in this process. um is that the board of alderman once they have a recommendation from the planning commission, they can introduce zoning regulations as legislation, debate those, enact them um alongside other regulations. So, you know, the goal tonight really is to kind of share where we are, get everybody up to speed, have some Q&A, but there's a lot more. Uh you can read the full report online. You can submit re written feedback anytime before u Monday next week. We've already received some comments. And then you can also participate in the hearing a week from tonight. Um we'll actually be in the Kennedy room which is different from our usual planning commission location uh because our boardroom is uh under renovation and the Kennedy room just has a little bit more space for the public. This will be in a hybrid format again. So, anybody can attend the meeting, participate uh uh either in person or virtually. So, hopefully that offers some good options for folks. So yeah, the goal tonight is to provide more information in advance of this me next meeting, share with what we've learned, share some of the feedback we've received on the zoning framework and how that has resulted in some

changes and answer as many questions as we can. Um, if you have questions, please add them to the chat function in the webinar at any time. And how we're going to do this is we're going to answer as many as we can tonight. We'll pause in kind of different times during this presentation and answer what we can. Any that we can't get to or are unable to answer tonight simply because we may not know the answer and need a minute to kind of look into it. Any we don't answer tonight, we will answer before or during the planning commission meeting next week. So, we'll appreciate every question you have and do our best to answer them. Um, also we are set up tonight to be live streaming to YouTube and we'll be kind of trying to monitor the questions or comments there and this webinar will be posted on YouTube for anybody who wants to watch afterward and the same opportunities to submit written comment online uh will exist then. So a few kind of general guidelines and rules of the road for the Q&A tonight. um if you can um avoid repeating questions if you can see others. I'm actually not certain in the way this webinar set up whe whether folks will be able to see other questions but we will get to everything we can maybe grouping similar questions and answers. Um please remain respectful. Our goal truly is to provide information tonight because this is a very complicated topic and we know the public has a lot of interest and want everybody in the community to have an opportunity to really um understand the issue uh understand what we're proposing and um respond to that. And this is not your last opportunity tonight for even to raise questions. The Google form invites questions as well which again we'll try to answer during the planning commission meeting if not before.

So getting into it um before I pause for kind of a first round of questions uh data centers and their emergence kind of how you know where are we what are these things um and uh how kind of what's driving their incredible development right now. So data centers are facilities that store data and provide compute power uh for basically any type of data function that uses the internet. So cloud computing um streaming like we're doing right now um artificial intelligence especially is driving the growth in data center development and other data inensive functions um that may use AI or may just need a ton of compute power like really intensive datadriven research. the global AI boom is a big part of what's fueling rapid data center development and also the associated infrastructure needed to power it. Um and you know huge numbers that uh you know McKenzie is just one source right trying to study this topic estimating 7 trillion investment globally by 2030 and they operate with a variety of models. Here's a series of quick maps um from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory um that we we grabbed a couple of months ago showing data center capacity already in operation. You can see the huge hub here in Northern Virginia and Lowden County, but other parts of the country too, planned data center capacity just land projects at that at this time. Um not all of these may occur, right? But this is just the data that uh ENL was tracking and then the combination of all of the existing and planned data data center capacity. Sharing this only to illustrate the scale of this investment that is projected really is incredible. It is a lot for the whole country to

respond to and communities across the country are grappling with how to manage this in a way that protects communities but also tries to capitalize on some of the opportunities where appropriate and where um where safe for their residents. You know, I think you can see some of the smaller data centers in St. Louis. St. Louis has not been a big hub of major largescale data data center development. which I think um and you know our concentration of even smaller scale data centers is less intense than other parts of the country. I think this puts us in a position to um catch the front edge of this wave if and as it hits our region and uh just prepare to make sure this happens in a way that doesn't result in some of the really negative consequences we've other seen in other communities. um a little bit more from some of that McKenzie research showing um the estimated global data center capacity by gigawatt um and kind of distinguishing between nonI workloads and AI workloads. So growth certainly in both types um but especially in the AI workloads. So, you know, this is cloud storage. This is AI. It's also a lot of healthcare applications and many other things that we all um use and benefit from in addition to a AI functions that uh we may not as um consumers or residents outside of that space be actively using. We've tried to research this whole bunch of different ways. interviews, participation in webinars and roundts, conversations with other cities and so on and interdep departmental coordination conversation with the group on tonight um panelists here and you

know four I would say overarching themes data centers are a growing part of our landscape um have the potential to support innovation and growth the potential to generate significant revenue for municipalities but there are many environmental impacts challenges and other concerns um and these are real concerns um about environmental impacts whether that's energy or water and also just concern about AI and what it's going to bring to the future of our society as well as just the future of employment wealth inequality education a lot of questions right um even outside of what the nature of the data center infrastructure looks like another important theme is just how quickly this is changing and how complex the topic is. Uh just really uh really fast moving and cities basically every city we talked to didn't feel super satisfied with their regulations if they had them in place and um were actively developing or refining regulations for this. I think this means this isn't a oneanddone type of topic for the city. We'll have to really stay on this and try to move with the pace of the industry. There also a lot of just unknowns and uncertainties because this is changing so quickly. The scale of this is so great. Um there are unknowns about the future of this industry and the associated infrastructure. But there are some common concerns. noise, vibrations, and light, intensive utility usage, maintaining vibrant, walkable urban spaces. Um, do you see that most communities um allow data centers by right in at least one zoning district? You'll see um in our updated recommendation, we're diverting or

departing from that precedent, but there is precedent to require disclosure of expected utility usage, limit noise levels, activate ground floors, uh require some portion of renewable energy use or specific cooling systems and water systems or require visual and acoustic buffering. But there are also some limitations about the role of zoning. Zoning is really good at some things but cannot cover all of the bases here and we may even on the local level not be able to cover all the bases. Some things are decided at state or or even federal levels. What zoning is really good at and what can what it can do is define different types of data centers, regulate where they can and can't go just on a location basis. establish the minimum standards for uh their operations and design. Uh collect a bunch of information concern uh about specific proposals and it can require other agreement agreements like community benefits agreements but maybe not detail the content of them because those get into things that aren't related to land use directly. What zoning can't do is regulate electric rate impacts. That is handled by the public service commission. Uh large load tariffs with Amron. All kind of set by state law. Um operating under federal law as well. Zoning can't directly determine Amron's energy mix or the types of projects that Amaran invests in to provide renewable energy or other types. um zoning can't regulate fees for water service, but the water division can um in sort of coordination with uh the board of alderman potentially and uh the uh director is can answer questions. He's here with us tonight and can answer

some questions on that front. zoning also cannot really regulate business activities within the same land use. And we can get into a little bit more about that, but we've really tried to kick the tires on um legally what is a sort of complete but still defensible role of zoning. We do as a city want to put forward a zoning ordinance that will hold up in court should it be challenged. So, we're um really uh in some ways I think trying to get creative with the zoning ordinance but not cross a line into something that can't be defended. And then quickly just a little bit about some of the cities we looked at and the types of things that their um data center zoning uh does and doesn't address or do and don't address. Um you can see many are currently updating their regulations more even than when we looked into some of this in February. Across the bottom you'll see some of what we are proposing which is trying to cover all the bases here. Trying to be pretty comprehensive in our regulations and I would say putting forward an open but very cautious approach to regulating this land use. I can confidently say that as a city um with the regulations we're putting forward though other cities have enacted temporary moratory or even permanent bans um of any city that does have regulations guiding the development of data centers. Um ours is a very cautious and comprehensive approach relative to what we've seen other cities do. So maybe there I'll pause just to see if we've received any questions about the sort of process or scope before we get into before I hand it over to Alicia to start to walk through some of the themes and findings. Dylan, is there are there

any questions um that you think would be smart to address now? Um there are a few um some of it's about kind of precedent research that you might have done. Um and so one is looking into kind of negative impacts that um have been experienced in other communities that kind of could be found or reflected in St. Louis. I know that might be addressed a little later, but if you wanted to touch on that quickly, we could start there.

Yeah, it's a really good question and I we can try to touch on it as we go. Um, I will say as we've learned more about this topic, um, I think a distinction we've tried to keep in mind in our research is that some of the very largest hypers scale campuses that are being built across the country are being built in rural environments where um they don't really have infrastructure. there is no um kind of water treatment infrastructure like we have here in the city. They're having to extend electric service to uh kind of remote locations water that they are using. They may be pulling from groundwater. They may not have a water uh treatment uh infrastructure prepared to handle the really vast scale of these things. Um, I think the city is in a little bit of a different position just with the infrastructure we have relative to the scale of what we might expect um, with these proposals. And that none of that is to say that these energy and water use concerns and noise concerns or emissions concerns are anything but um, serious and very relevant in the city of St. Louis. Um, I just think that the kind of scale and context of some of those nightmare scenarios and other cases is important to kind of keep in mind as we walk through some of these kind of thematic topics.

And then there's one more that I think is uh appropriate at this time. Um, and they're kind of concerned with um what are the kind of core drivers and choices in location for data centers. Um, this is by Ed Bryant. So what are the kind of key things that drive their location? Yes, correct. Particularly regionally, they're looking regionally, but

yeah, it that's a really good question. I think we'll get to that in a satisfactory way in the context of like the city's geography here as we go. Um, as to kind of site selection from a regional point of view, um, we'll have to to think about that. Um I think generally speaking what a data center would look for is um a lot of land and access to power because some of the most expensive parts of accessing or building a data center are um developing new power infrastructure to serve a site. So they're going to look for places where that can be done effectively. Um Andy, yeah, what else would you add? Yeah, I think that um one of the communities that we talked to, West De Moines, Iowa, there was already um I I think it's Google, there was already a large um Google presence in the area, like they had offices and stuff. So, I think regionally located it kind of maybe depends on the the tech industry that's already there. Um you know, that comes with data centers that already have a clear end user as well. So, it's a little bit different for this one that I know people are interested in.

Yeah, that's a great point. Well, let's keep going before we pause again for any more questions and I'll hand it over to Alicia.

Sure. Thanks, Miriam. So, I'm going to kind of cover some of the key themes and findings around energy and water use and let Miriam change the slide here. So we know energy and water use is intense with data centers, right? They both they use an enormous amount of energy for both the servers and the cooling needs. Majority of that power is going towards the cooling system itself and then um a quarter about to like the server and storage capacity. We have seen in some other cities where they're able to like pair a data center with another um industry to capture that waste heat. for example, like a data center and it heats up a nearby hotel or perhaps even um connects to like an industrial laundry facility. So, there's a place for that heat to go and be used. Um but the energy consumption itself is really high like compared to other uses and it's rapidly changing. So, we're talking like an industrial scale level here. And the servers in these data centers, they have become more and more powerful over time. So the energy density or server rag density has increased. So you know the actual like square footage of the data center may not be as um proportionate to like how much power it's using. But when we think about the type of cooling system, the water use varies within that system itself. So like Miriam mentioned earlier, you know, the areas where we've seen issues with um water usage and depletion of groundwater, it's happened in those agricultural areas. But there is a trade-off between energy efficiency and water efficiency and the initial investment and then of course like the water outputs. So any water discharge that has to be treated by our sewer department. So they would be subject to um MSD's requirements for I believe industrial users. But there are different types of cooling systems that a data center can use and we'll kind of

browse through a few of the the most common options. And these data centers are like really sophistic sophisticated design systems. So they want the energy that they're using to go towards the um processing power and not necessarily the cooling itself. But on the basic system, maybe for a small server room or what you would have in like any type of office building, you're going to have a computer room air conditioning system where they call like a crack system. So they're relatively cheap, but it's not the most efficient, but it does um provide basic air cooling throughout that space. Another type of cooling system is evaporative cooling. This is also a cheap investment. However, it does use a lot of water. That's where we're seeing, you know, potentially millions of gallons of water used a day and it's not very sustainable. So, while cost effective to implement, not the most environmentally conscious. Another popular one is direct to chip cooling. This is where we're kind of getting more into those advanced systems where the cooling's happening like in the computer chip itself. Um, but again, this becomes more expensive. However, it does become more efficient. So data centers you know depending on their size may integrate different types of these different types of these processes together. Another type of uh cooling system we know about is the singlephase immersion cooling. This is again more expensive. It doesn't use any water but is very efficient and there could be some other challenges um with it. Again that's for like really high performance data centers. Same with this multi-phase immersion cooling system. expensive, but it's the best for like those high density servers. So, in regards to the city's water infrastructure, um you know, we are a well-built environment here for water infrastructure. However, we have more

than enough capacity to bring on large water users. And we've seen the water division's rate base has declined significantly as we've experienced significant population loss. So I believe our systems designed for probably like three times the amount of population that we currently have here. So broadening our and expanding our water utility rate base can help stabilize our infrastructure. And we also have director Patel here to talk a little bit more about this um in detail. But if you go to the next slide, Miriam, we have um another opportunity of infrastructure that is good here and well built for you know large energy users is our district energy systems. We have an existing steam loop and planned chilled water loop. So these are really important assets to the city. this if we're able to tap into these resources we can reduce demand on the electrical grid create pathways for heat recovery and reuse and then as you know data centers were to develop and connect into the district energy it does benefit the city in a way. So that's another opportunity that we have here and we actually have a little map here of where the existing steam loop is. That's the pink area. And then the area that should be served by the chilled water loop is that um teal area right there. So mostly downtown little north downtown areas. So what can zoning do? You know, like we talked about, zoning can only cover so much, but zoning can require the disclosure of energy needs and expected energy and water efficiency. We can require agreements within the water division to address specific, you know, issues or project specific needs, set other building efficiency standards, encourage or require connection to our district energy systems, set renewable energy requirements, ban the most wasteful water systems. So that would be like evaporative cooling and really

pushing for advanced design. And then require ongoing compliance with MSD standards. So um I will pass it over to director Patel if he wouldn't mind sharing a little bit about the water rate framework that is in development for data centers. We have it here a little preview on the next slide.

All right. So thank you. Um you know as director Russell mentioned there um you know we are a unique city with the respect to the water infrastructure that we have the capacity that we have. uh you know we're situated uh you know right at the confluence of two of the biggest rivers in the country um and certainly have a capacity that is you know approximately three times uh you know as we mentioned the consumption that we see daily in demands and so uh just to put that into context we have about 125 million gallons a day of treated drinking water that we pump into the system uh whereas we were designed for you know a population of about a million people and a capacity of approximately 360 million gallons a day. So, you know, the the difference between some of these midsize uh probably even a large size data center as it pertains to the ability for us to supply that water uh you know is is there. Um you know certainly we always take a look at impact that may occur to others uh near that connection point uh wherever that may be in the city uh to make sure that there is no issue there. and we've put additional restrictions on uh you know the conditional use permit for the data center u at Midtown uh to do so and have them pay for that cost. And so, you know, what we're looking at here is the water rate framework uh that we put together as a result of sort of the the activity that kicked up uh within many city departments uh you know, evaluating the impacts. And uh what we've landed on are you know a number of framework issues that we will incorporate into a study uh called a cost of service study that would be specific to all different types of users of water in the city but uh also specifically to data centers and uh you know what that may look like for the various sizes uh that were mentioned earlier. So what that looks like you know because we have a large capacity

and we are a surface water treatment plant uh you know system uh that does not rely on groundwater um we have what's called a declining block rate structure. But for data centers specifically just to make sure that they're uh not impacting the system as a new user type that is connecting to the system uh we would take a look at at an inclining block rate structure that would incentivize conservation. What that would look like is, you know, a rate for an initial tier of consumption and then the next tier of consumption would have a higher rate um and so on and so forth for additional tiers. Um you know that again would drive into that uh you know uh methodology where we're not looking at inefficient uses of water uh with cooling for data centers but more efficient uses like uh the the closed loop system that we mentioned. Um, another thing that we're looking at is a demand charge. Um, you know, initially even a closed loop system would require a large volume of water uh for initial filling and then of course if they do have maintenance that causes them to have to blow that system down and refill it, um, you know, uh, that initial filling again after that system was was maintained. Uh so that demand charge would take a look at at charging extra for that higher capacity flow that the system would have to support uh to do that filling. Uh you know other things that we're looking at are conservation penalties uh for not meeting water efficiency benchmarks. Uh you know again the things that could be built into a zoning uh you know approach for data centers. uh you know this is something that we could build in as they are required to measure water efficiency and meet metrics that are are provided to to show that they're being uh you know environmentally conscious with their their designs. Dynamic rates is another thing that that we're looking at and again all of these would be looked at specifically to data centers in a cost of service study. Um, you know,

this would allow the water division to increase rates for a data center on a more frequent basis, maybe on an interval. Um, you know, rather than the existing rate making process that we have now, which is through the board of alderman when there's a need for rates to be readjusted because of, you know, uh, revenues and expenses not meeting where where they need to be, uh, or other factors such as inflation or cost drivers. Um, you know, additionally, we're looking at system impact fees for data centers. Uh, you know, this would of course capture all of the capital costs required to support uh new connection to the water system. Uh, you know, put those costs on the the data uh center customer. Uh, but you know, it would be a reflective cost for the scale of the new user that would be connecting to the system and again specific to data centers. And then uh earlier on I mentioned that hydraulic model scenario study. You know this would take a look at the projected uses, the demands uh you know the location uh specific criteria uh to either recommend installation of a a new infrastructure or a connection to a larger main that could support that level of use without being detrimental to other users of water in the system. And so, you know, all of these comprehensive things together are the framework that we're looking at for data centers for water rates and to make sure that there is no impact there.

Thank you. Um, I'm trying to see on the next Yeah, before we move to access to electricity, maybe we pause here for any questions related to what what was just shared. Dylan, what any relevant questions at the moment? Yeah, we have a few. Um, one question from Laura Cohen is who's building and paying for the chilled water loop systems,

right? So, the chilled water loop is through um is through a private company called Centerream. Is that their I believe that's their name now. So, they're the ones responsible for that. Um I don't I don't have the information on the construction or anything like that. I believe it's because it's a private company. It's not like a publicly service utility similar to you know Amarind or uh our water division. So you're saying the developer would pay for the company

to be built into the Okay, just clarifying. Um one other question from Ed Bryant is uh would water utilized by the data centers go through treatment centers used for drinking water? Um, I don't think we have anyone on MSD here, but I just wanted to throw that out and see if anyone had an answer for that. Uh, just to clarify if if the question is that the water used for the data centers for their cooling be supplied by the water division. Uh, yes, you know, we are looking at them connecting again to the robust supply network that we have. uh you know you cannot install a well in the city for your your water use uh you know that would be detrimental I think to to you know other people who who uh utilize the city um if it is for MSD in the wastewater stream I can't answer that one

okay so all water exiting the building would be MSD and therefore uh no one on board at least would be able to appropriately answer that question I think um okay let's Um so who's paying for any kind of major renovations to the water infrastructure if it's needed to kind of build the data center?

Uh so you know any of the infrastructure that needs to be built uh to connect to the water system that we maintain as a city. uh you know and that ends at the the water manes are responsible for the owner of the the building or the developer. Um and then any impact that would be uh you know determined out of that study that would need infrastructure upgrades again would be the responsibility of that data center for the specific conditional use uh permit holder. um you know for the the zoning regulation uh you know I think we're looking at at doing something equal or more stringent uh you know if there's a better methodology or approach there

we have a few more um there may be too many to get to at the moment and then we'll try and kind of loop back perhaps but um I'll do one more this one's for uh director Patel specifically what types of impacts could other users near the site experience from the data center um uh that the data data center would be expected to pay for. Um would that just be to pay for infrastructure to expand capacity or for general area near the data center? So what's the area of impact that they would need to kind of cover at at a data center?

Yeah. So uh on a high level what that hydraulic model study would do is take a look at the impact of the projected demand uh the amount of water that they are projected to use and what that would do to pressures uh in the area uh you know due to that amount of demand being added. Um and again I can speak a little bit to the the data center that was approved in the conditional use permit. Um you know they're anticipating an initial filling of that system. um you know that can be done slowly over time but also an amount that would have to have uh you know to maintain the water in that system uh that would put them really outside of the top 30 users of water in the city. Um you know it's approximately 100,000 gallons a day and again I mentioned we have about 125 million gallons a day uh of demand that we supply today. um and in years past, you know, have had upwards of 200 million gallons a day of of capacity. So, um you know, 100,000 gallons a day is certainly not a small amount of water. Uh but it is an amount that you know could flow out of a fire hydrant uh in the course of four or five hours. So the uh the impact to the the area that we would look at is uh you know pressure uh and and a level of service uh you know is measured in pressure um and the impact by a new customer that would connect and if that was an impact we may have them install uh you know to a different connection point or pay for an improvement in the water system in order to make sure that there is no impact. And then this last one, um I'm just going to read it as is, so if it's a little unclear, um I apologize. It says, "Is the water rate framework a suggestion for the water district?" Uh the framework is uh you know, something that we will build into the the scope of work for our class cost of

service study. Uh you know, that's our next water rate study that we would be doing. Um so it is not in place now. uh but it is the framework that we will use to evaluate uh the water rates uh as we approach you know a cost of service study that would take a look at a new or different type of user of water in the city. Um you know currently we have basically the flat rate customers that are residential and the metered customers. Um, you know, we we would look to expand and and maybe uh, you know, delineate further the the different types of users of water in the city to to maybe even break it out to uh, for the metered group uh, small, medium, and large or, you know, industrial scale. Uh, and then of course the the data centers themselves.

There's plenty of other questions which we will get to I think at the end, but I I don't want to hold up the presentation any longer. So I'll let let you proceed to the next steps and we'll follow up.

Yeah, thanks Dylan. So next we're going to talk a little bit about access to electricity. Like what is the power infrastructure needed for a data center? Where are they looking for the optimal location? So access to high voltage utility infrastructure drives that site selection. So if you look at the the image on the screen here where those like orange doubled lines are, that's the high voltage lines currently existing through the city. So most of this runs through industrial areas and old rights of way. Um, so these are generally already historically industrial districts, but there are there is like a loop right there around downtown as somewhat of an exception to this. But some of those industrial areas do co coincide with flood planes and so flood planes should help inform side selection. Flood planes are generally a risk factor for stable continuous operations of a facility. It's our understanding from our research that projects generally won't be located in a flood plane just because it's such a high risk. Um the data center equipment could also pose a risk an environmental risk if it became flooded. And then there could be a possibility to mitigate that if you were to if a data center were to like raise their floors a bit and not put any equipment on that ground floor level. But from our understanding it's generally high risk. But even looking within the flood plane itself there there's some more complexities. Um we have some examples on the next slide here showing sort of like the hatched area which is like immediate flood plane along the Mississippi and then the orange area could be protected by like a levy. So even within our flood plane itself, there's a number of risk factors that a data center is going to have to look at um when they're if they were to look, you know, along those industrial corridors that do have access to high voltage, the flooding is a huge factor within that.

So when we look at you know where the electricity is coming from Amron's our utility electric utility provider here and just like Amron and other utilities they're all under this challenge to meet growing energy needs from all of their customers including data centers. So the new demand requires new power generation and transmission infrastructure. So while transmission costs are borne by the customer like the developer for those larger load customers new energy generation impacts all customers. So that's shared across Amron's territory. So any new you know industrial user or large load user or data center in Amron's territory if they have to you know bring on new energy generation because they're required to provide you know electricity to all of us that cost is shared across the territory itself. However, there are state regulations that process um that process and dictate the speci specifics of these contracts, rate increases, and new energy approvals. So, for example, Senate Bill 4 that was recently passed that include like a special large load tariff requirement. So, um any energy user that was asking for more than 75 megawws of interconnection, they would be required to pay for that transmission cost. and any other upgrades to the system. It also did allow construction work in progress or known as quip. So that means that new energy uh rateayers could pay for the construction of that before that generation is actually brought online and all these decisions are made at the public service commission level which is a state regulatory body. So what the city can do is request information about electric utility impacts and intervene or comment on those PSC decisions but we can't decide or control the rates because it's outside of our authority. However, we have seen that some of the

largest you know potential end users of data centers do have ESG goals. So environmental social governance goals. So that's really positive saying that they want to be as efficient as possible knowing that they do um use a lot of demand. And then here's just kind of an example of you know what we've seen across the state like these are potential projects like across the state. So not specific to Amarind to just kind of show the range and scale of the electricity requirements. Um you know as Miriam mentioned in the beginning we have about 12 or 13 data centers. Most of them are 15 megawws or less. But we can see here that there was potential development somewhere in the state for data centers as large as a gigawatt or more. So a thousand megawws is one gigawatt. So we're really seeing a range of data centers um kind of being speculated across the state. Um however in in the city itself, we we're not sure we're going to see anything that large. And we have some other protections in place for that that we'll explain later. But in terms of you know what Amron and the public service commission has provided especially under the large load tariff agreement it puts protections in place. So um that's putting a minimum contract term of 12 years and a 5-year load ramp for those large load customers. That's you know the data centers that are above 75 megawws. It also included an expansion of renewable and clean energy options for um data centers and as well as like a minimum payment of 80% of the maximum potential energy use. So kind of futurep proofing the costs born for uh energy generation and transmission infrastructure needed ahead of time so we don't have stranded assets through our utility service. There are also requirements for early notification of exits and termination fees. And then last was like a cap on

utilities, the utilities return on equity. So any I believe the language was you know any excess equity over a certain percent would get actually distributed in a way to um lowincome customers. So that's something that a lot of our utility advocates are working on right now. So we know where the power lines are, but what about the the generators? So data centers use backup generators to operate consistently during potential power outage. So they want to be, you know, have as many redundancies and make sure that they're not offline so their most critical services can stay running. Uh generators can be really noisy and they are, you know, large polluters. And they're also tested on a regular basis. However, this is in compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act requirements and that is all managed and administered through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. So, what we hear about in the news are, you know, when generators are running before like a data center could be connected to that um local transmission. So there's the examples where the data centers are operating with unpermitted side generators using them as that primary power source and with that constant running of generators usually diesel fuel at this point um it's contributing to air pollution and respiratory illnesses. However, this is entirely preventable and must be prevented within the city of St. Louis. So when we look at access to energy, what zoning can do is require that full picture up front. What is the new transmission infrastructure? What substations would be needed? Require we could require information about the impact of new facilities on utility rates. Prohibit the use of generators as that sole operating power source. also

require the highest testing of generators when air oh sorry require the highest standards or like the lowest emissions for backup generators so that generator is um has the best standards for emissions and then prohibit the testing of generators when we know air quality is already bad on certain days. Require an upfront environmental impact report so we can better guide these decisions. establish noise standards and use our existing noise ordinance and restrict data centers to locations away from neighborhoods. But beyond zoning, we're looking at how we can track actual energy use and possibly establish programs that reduce energy burden on residents as we know more energy generation is needed throughout our service territory. So I think we can pause here if there are any related questions to this section.

Yes, there's a quite a few. Um we'll start with this one. It kind of bridges between the last question about water usage and uh electricity usage. Uh and it's just kind of wondering how that compare how data centers compare to other types of uh industrial or manufacturing uses as far as energy and water usage. Um and uh kind of just asking a little bit more about how sustainable uh evaporative cooling is and if that's just a St. Louis specific uh benefit given our water system or if that's just a generally understood uh yeah way the system works.

Right. So with evaporative cooling, I think that's a pretty standard um like design across the board where it is cheap to you know implement but it does use a lot of excessive water because it's getting evaporated and constantly run through the system and flushed at the same time. um in regards to like energy and water use. For water use, like director Patel said, um like for example, the the current proposal that's out there, the amount of water that they're saying they're going to use is, you know, outside the top 30 users already of our largest water users. So that tells us that, you know, smart design data centers can use less water as oo and it may not be as much as like our largest, you know, hotel or, you know, maybe a large brewery or something like that. And then in regards to energy, you know, it really just depends on what that data center is is doing, right? And how much energy that they're that they need from the grid at any one point. Um generally though because it is like a small footprint it is very energyintensive and I would say it's uh most data centers are in line with some of our largest industrial um facilities in terms of energy use if not um the max right now but in the future they could exceed our industrial um energy users. And on evaporative cooling, I'll add um I mean I I think where we've landed on this and the zoning regulations is while some amount of water use is appropriate in the city, just straight evaporative cooling systems we're going to ban because of how wasteful those can be. And also um in the process of evaporation um when not designed appropriately certain chemicals can become really concentrated and contribute to pollution issues. And so

for those two reasons, evaporative cooling systems are just going to be um not permitted through the zoning regulations. That's what we're recommending right now. What we've moved away from recommending is a kind of any specific cooling technology. I think looking into this a little bit more recognizing that there are a lot of options and the best one might just depend on the specific design of a data center. So the current recommendation is to kind of ban what we know is going to be problematic but otherwise stay open and have um required agreements with the water division to ensure that any additional cost of infrastructure are borne by the developer. A few questions on air quality which we can answer now. I'm not sure if you bring it up in section five. we can loop back to those. Um I'll I'll just go ahead and ask them.

Yeah. Yeah. And then and then we can um follow up if we need to. Um so two two questions. Um can we set our own Clean Air Act kind of uh regulations for uh for the city? And then the other is can we kind of require monitors at least be installed? um and uh ongoing testing.

Yeah, we can certainly um I think with air quality it can be a little difficult, right? Because air moves. So it depends on the temperature, the season, the wind, everything like that. But air quality monitors and um ongoing monitoring of that can certainly happen. And then within the city itself, I think, you know, having that data can help us drive, you know, what types of, you know, thresholds for emissions that we would allow here. However, because air pollution travels so far, it it's kind of hard to say that it's like a one source point when we're monitoring like a larger space.

And sorry, I to clarify the question, I think it also is asking can they be installed before the data center or a data center is built? Is that a requirement that could be integrated? Yeah, that's something we can we can consider. I think that sums up most of the ones for this section and we'll loop back.

Okay. Um, just for the audience's benefit, these other sections become shorter. So, I do think we'll get through all of the material. So here we just wanted to talk about the really vast variety in the types of data centers and their function and their size both in terms of their energy demand and their physical scale. So in terms of their function they could be you know for a single organization storing their data. They could be directly about like telecom functions or they could be more of a collocation model where it's cloud storage for a whole variety um of of vendors or data storage I should say for a whole variety of vendors or could be hypers scale um kind of typically built for a smaller number of users and able to um deliver really really high power to um to run very sort of high uh high energy demand functions. And I I think what we've learned is AI may be integrated into all sorts of these types of things. Generative AI may be most reliant on like a hypers scale, but um AI just increasingly could be, you know, there could be a few racks of servers even in a collocation center that just are um running kind of more more powerful servers. in terms of their kind of physical scale. This is a smattering of a few existing data centers. Um these four are operating and the top left is under construction. Um, you know, I think what's interesting in uh cities, unlike the like hypers scale campuses we see in more rural locations or even suburban locations, um developers here have um found a way to repurpose vacant either office

buildings or warehouse buildings or even lower slung industrial buildings in in St. Louis. Um so a very different typology right of reusing existing buildings um for data centers. The one out in Maryland Heights is more of a new construction but sort of industrial style facility. I think it's about 13,000 square feet. So um not not enormous. I share this example of a hypers scale campus from central Ohio where they've had um quite a quite a few hypers scale campuses developed in a community called New Albany. I share this example here mainly to um just just kind of share its vast scale and distinguish it from anything that would be appropriate or acceptable in the city. Um the scale is of kind of millions of square feet, hundreds of acres, hundreds of gigawatts or even you know gigawatt plus data centers. Uh typically are proposed in more rural or exurban environments. And uh you'll see in the regulations or I'll tell you now that we are um suggesting a a size cap on data centers of 500,000 square ft which is about the size of um kind of existing manytory office buildings in the city. So kind of keeping that option on the table but something of this scale would far exceed that cap that our regulations are proposing. So, um, banning this typology in the city, but it's getting more into kind of visualizing these different scales. It's really tough because like Alicia said, the physical scale and the energy demand both are important to understanding the land use, but there's not a direct correlation because it's really about

the type of server and the like variation in scale is just so fast. So, here is just um kind of a collection of a few existing and proposed data centers like the one in the famous bar warehouse in Midtown in comparison to just a randomly selected that like New Albany uh Ohio data center. Um you can see kind of the smaller one um about 13,000 square feet under 5 megawatts. um one under construction up to 20 megawws but may not be operating at that scale right now. About a third 130,000 square ft. That was just me based on a kind of measuring of um floor plates and some multiplication by stories. The famous bar warehouse, the footprint of that is about 500,000 square feet, a little bit higher. Um and uh this is proposed to use up to 120 megawws. But here this hypers scale campus. These are all roughly at the same scale by the way. These drawings you can see u just how how vastly different these things are. Again just sharing to emphasize um we we are drawing a line uh here. These hypers scale campuses are not going to be permitted in the city. Um I apologize this heading should say variety of types of scales zoning and other approaches. What we're doing through zoning is to um have different requirements for different sizes because the smaller ones just really don't have the same impact as the larger ones. And we're not relying solely on physical size in differentiating the different sizes of data centers. We're also differentiating based on peak power demand because that has a fairly direct relationship to the amount of kind of

accessory infrastructure, backup generators, and just the equipment that is involved in operating um a successful data center. Um there will be higher standards for higher impact types. uh we are capping that physical footprint at 500,000 square feet and trying to um get as much information as possible about the intended function intended function um and you know we can also establish kind of more detailed community benefits agreement parameters for those larger types I should mention we are proposing to require community benefits agreements for the largest type defined in our uh proposed zoning regulations Let me quickly cover this theme before then we pause again for questions because it's a pretty related topic um about data centers as a land use and sort of what they contribute to the surrounding urban environment. They don't have a ton of permanent employees though there are especially for collocation data centers some visits by customers who may be coming to check on their equipment. Um, but that said, relative to housing, relative to office, they're not a very active use, right? There just aren't that many people coming and going. But there are some examples, including in St. Louis, of mixeduse data centers where there might be a data center um that's just one function with a building or data centers as the primary use of a building, but with some active ground floors. And so that means simply um there's just a use on the ground floor that um has more interaction with people, more people coming and going. It feels like an active place. Could be a restaurant, could be a library, could be any number of things. Um also I think you know nationally and we've seen even in St. Louis that data centers do represent some infrastructure

that could help attract and retain sort of tech oriented businesses downtown and in the city. So they make sense as part of a mix of uses in a downtown like St. Louis's. However, there's it's a double-edged sword, right? like we don't want so many uh that downtown starts to lose or we sort of undermine downtown's vitality as a place of gathering and activity as the kind of the core of our region's economy. So a little bit of double-edged sword and a balancing act. So um what we are trying to do and there's some changes here what we're recommending from our previous framework we are requiring the potential for active ground floors. So um at least 50% of the ground floor needs to be set aside for other uses. We are banning data centers from areas within a certain distance of transit stations or parks and schools. Um we are we have a kind of a new proposal about restrictions on density and prevalence downtown and in mixed use districts. So, um, they become sort of a supporting feature, not a primary feature in places like downtown. Trying to encourage them in a mixeduse format. And then make sure we have just some basic land use standards to screen or enclose equipment and generators so those don't become part of the streetscape for people walking around enjoying the city. Um, and community benefits agreements, I think, can further reinforce uh those things or even require and help fund relevant infrastructure improvements in the surrounding area. So, I think I'll pause there again for any questions. So, you you left off on CBA. So, I'll start with a question about CBAs. Um, there currently is one required for the proposed Armory data center. uh

particularly uses reasonable best efforts to hit the renewable targets. Um uses that language uh and they're wondering if uh that could be strengthened uh so that it's uh a little bit stronger and not just a requirement but uh or not just a suggestion but a requirement.

Yeah. In the um in our next draft of these zoning regulations there are I would say this the renewable energy requirements are stronger. Um, we just have some limitations in our state around like what renewable energy is actually even available. Our current energy generation mix is about 12% renewables, 60% coal. So, we have to really be realistic about what we're requiring when. So, a phased in approach is really great. And we have consulted with um both Renew Missouri and other renewable advocates as well as other um more larger region and national advocates to figure out and understand what is feasible in the renewable energy space here. And I'll add to that um I believe the way that requirement was structured and how we're trying to structure um forward-looking regulation is when getting renewable energy itself to power the data center is not um not possible. there will still be a requirement to cover that difference through um renewable energy credits from the um I'll I'll call it local but sort of regional energy transmission territory or leisure if you want to you're the expert on that for sure relative to me

uh bundled renewable energy credits local to our regional territory versus just like a paper certificate from New York.

Yeah. So contributing to renewable energy generation um in the Midwest rather than in Yeah. New York or Northern California. Right. So we're um reducing fossil fuel dependence in the region. We'll um move on to the next question. Um this is about distance requirements. Uh in particular, how far from neighbor like far from neighborhoods, how would that be defined? um what qualifies as a neighborhood? Um and you know, is is Midtown, for example, considered a neighborhood? What what creates the defining line for for a kind of more densely packed urban core area?

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I might actually, because I think that's a really good and relevant to the section question, I'm going to jump way ahead to show you maps that show how all these things add up. Um, but I do see that we're running short on time. So in the updated zoning regulations, we tried to strengthen the definition of what data centers would have to be distant from and we tailored those distance requirements by the size of data center. So smaller data centers could be still spaced away from 150 ft. Um properties that are zoned uh A through G. So that is all of the residential districts in our zoning code as well as the kind of neighborhood commercial districts. So for the purposes of this that that's how we're defining kind of what data centers need to be distant from. I'll note members of the audience may be aware we are in the process of also kind of comprehensively updating our zoning code and zoning map. Um, and so I think we we are doing the best we can within this interim um set of regulations for data centers, but it's possible and likely that the zoning map and areas designated as industrial could change. Um, but that's all still being worked through in the zoning upgrade process. So for micro data centers, it's 150 ft. For standard data centers defined as 5 megawatts to 30 megawws, it would be 300 ft. And here shown on the map are the properties that would kind of fall outside of those buffers. We're also including the flood planes on here just for visual reference. for major data major data centers which

we're defining as anything above 30 megawws. This would be um the map of kind of properties that fall outside of those 600 foot buffers from um those zoning districts A through G as well as parks, schools and transit stations. These are all in the report available online in a in the exhibit at the end. Um these next two question, there's two questions. They're they're somewhat related. Um and they're more about size. Um and then the mixed use requirements. So is there a a point at which we would cap a mixeduse requirement for data centers due to the kind of um noise pollution air quality that you know perhaps they might not produce the best mixed use is I think the the thought behind it and then kind of uh conjoined with that is another question about why wouldn't it just be a requirement for all data centers.

Yeah, good questions and I think these were things we wrestled with. Um so in areas where in in mixed use districts not just at any data center would be permitted. Um those would be capped at 30 megawws and that's the point at which we think um beyond that it would be really hard to successfully integrate all of that equipment that the questioner referred to. I think at 30 megawws I think that could work in a place like downtown as as long as that backup generator equipment and so on was physically enclosed as we are requiring in the regulations. Um requiring all data centers to be in a mixeduse format was honestly something we considered. I think um it is just a very rare example that we see data centers as anything but kind of the primary use with maybe an active ground floor and we're getting some push back on the the viability of that too. I'll say um which you know I think we're interested in uh sort of the effects here for sure. Um so requiring that data centers could only be you know 30% of a building I think that is just not the sort of typology that works for most people who need that that compute power. Um however what we did do was again sort of cap the prevalence of data centers in mix districts and downtown. So there could be one data center within a 300t radius required to have at least part of the ground floor not in use as a data center. If there's another data center within that 300t radius proposed that

would be required to be um I believe it's no more than 30% of the building. I would have to check that for sure. So that's where we landed. But we we thought through a bunch of different options. We just think this is the one that would um be most tailored to what would really be possible at the moment. I wonder if in the interest of time it would help to jump to some of the feedback we received. We can we can and we will put all these slides online, but I just want to be respectful of folks time. Um, it's given over some some good stuff, but I just want to I think this is really important that we kind of share more of what we heard from the public and the updates we made based on that. So, as we mentioned, we had we accepted written feedback. We had the public hearing in February. We um I'm thinking though, we should jump back to talk about the environmental monitoring once I get through this. So, Katarina, be ready, I guess. Um sorry. Uh we also kept the Google form after and accepted further written comment. And we have two slides here that share just at a summary level what we heard. So kind of thematically what people seem to appreciate about the preliminary approach and then other suggestions and feedback. So broadly I think people thought this whole differentiating of data centers by type rather than treating them all the same was a good way to go. So I think we're leaning into that approach. Um, a lot of suggestions

about refining the language just so it's clear, a little bit more clear. A lot of feedback around banning large data centers. Um, environmental protections. People like some of what we included. Renewable energy, cool roof requirements, closed loop systems and water protections, and annual reporting requirements. A lot of suggestions about stronger standards for backup generators, strengthening the district energy requirements. We also got some feedback that the district energy requirements we did include were too costly. Some suggestions to require e-waste recycling and this is because some of that server equipment and other equipment require some constant upgrades which has the potential to produce a lot of e-waste which is environmentally very um very problematic. So, a suggestion to require e-waste recycling, to require some more upfront uh environmental reports that also include a consideration for heat emissions from data centers um and to require new energy demand to be met through new renewable energy generation. So, some of these things um are things we can do through zoning. Some things like influencing new energy demand directly uh we cannot directly require as a city. On the topic of consumer and economic protections, a lot of people wanted to see the city ensure that residents electric rates won't go up. Again, not something we can directly control, but we have added some elements to the application to um require a letter as part of the application from Amaran that sort of attests to what the impact would be of any project. Suggestions to ban certain types of data center uses. And this again is something that um is not and we did kick the legal tires on this, not something we can do

through zoning, but we can continue to ask so when it's known that is available for the city's consideration to prohibit the the use of local incentives, not a zoning issue, but a policy choice available to the city. um require more upfront economic impact reports, require upfront infrastructure improvements. Um some of this we can do like with water infrastructure we were discussing or even um uh like roadway infrastructure that has a direct connection or like nexus to the data center uh development. On the theme of location and design, people did appreciate banning these in residential areas and preserving ground floor for retail use. Um, again, just transparently sharing a lot of people communicated um the desire to not allow large data centers anywhere in the city, though I think large meant different things to different people. To increase the buffers, which we have in some cases done, we've tailored the buffer or distance requirements to the size of the data center. Again, this kind of challenge with downtown that allowing them downtown could harm the vibrancy of downtown, but also acknowledging that these can be a productive part of generating other uses and development downtown. A lot of feedback that we don't want these allowed by ride anywhere, no matter the size. Um, we have incorporated that suggestion. um noting that some industrial areas are too close to neighborhoods, resolving some barriers to adaptive use that were just kind of technical errors and and we've tried to resolve those. Um then this final theme, uh people likes the public engagement requirements and detailed application requirements. um a suggestion of requiring community benefits agreements which we are suggesting to do for large

data centers and requiring enduser disclosure um which is I I believe slightly beyond what we can effectively kind of legally do through zoning but we are um we will ask and that information being available or not available is for the city's consideration. So based on this, we've made many updates to the initial framework and I think overall what we're putting forward is a more detailed and a more cautious approach to data centers. Um, and I'll just quickly summarize some of the major changes. We're lowering the megawatt threshold from standard between standard and major. We are revising the renewable energy requirements to better reflect the feasibility of what is actually available supplywise in the region. Done a lot of reorganization for clarity. Um we're revising this approach to data centers downtown like I've tried to describe. Um requiring agreements with the water division like director Patel described, requiring community benefits for large data centers or major data centers. The purpose there would be to address impacts that we cannot fully address through land use regulation. Um we've also established or proposed to establish a deadline for the city's own review of these regulations just recognizing like yeah this is pretty quickly evolving and I believe this this will happen within the context of the zoning upgrade and also we've tailored buffering and the spacing requirements based on the intensity of the data center. So here's another way of summarizing those changes um to the micro, standard and large data centers. So dropping that threshold, you can see adding some density restrictions um in

areas where micro and standard data centers would be allowed in downtown and mixeduse districts. I see a typo here with the repetition. um tailoring these distance requirements to the size and intensity of data centers. And then as mentioned um for the major category requiring a community benefits agreement before we pause again for questions potentially the last round of questions but again if you as you write any we will um address them either before or during the planning commission meeting. I did want to give Katarina an opportunity to talk about some of this um corresponding legislation that is also being developed. Thank you, Miam. Um my name is Karavina Malawa and I'm a program manager for office of building performance which is part of the building division. I run a program where we already require large buildings in a city over 50,000 square feet report all energy and water usage to us. Uh we are working on new regulation where we will require all data centers in the city to report all energy usage to us. And when I'm talking about all energy usage, I'm mentioning all utility types. So, not only electricity and a solar panels, but also uh diesel usage and any other fuel usage. So, their backup generators um if they're going to be using diesel, more likely they will they have to report all of this to us to the city of St. Louis. Um part of the requirement will be also report all water usage use for the building as well. and uh little bit different requirement which we don't apply for other buildings is to report

electric waste recycle on site from that building. Um the good news is that um internally we are ready. So when this regulation will come into place we have a software uh we internally use and we can track it pretty quickly. As well for a data centers they would use um free website to report all of that to us. So that's a good news that we'll be ready to hop on um and explain um to data centers what they need to report to us and how to get it done. Um another added requirement which we don't apply for large building is that we will require data centers to hire a qualified third party to verify all these benchmarking reports to us on annual basis. Um I think this is the good way to not only to trust but also uh ask them to verify that making sure that everything what is reported to us is um accurate. Um I think that's kind of all uh for regulations when it comes to energy and utility reporting. Um um I know we will require this not only for large data centers and we already have 12 in the city but we are going down to all these micro centers uh which will be less than 10,000 square ft. Um I really believe that this is good way to start tracking to see how much energy and usage and water and it will give us a better idea of what we are working with.

Yeah, thank you Katarina. Yeah, just wanted to kind of share the slight slightly fuller picture of what we've been thinking through and talking about. Um, even though the zoning regulations are immediately before the city. Yep. Oh, Miriam, also I want to mention that as this regulation will be part of the building division, uh, building commissioner has a good stick to use, if uh, data centers will fail to report this to us, um, building commissioner can pull their occupancy permits. So this is something they can keep in mind and everyone else. So I think that's a pretty huge st we have.

Yeah. And you know at with that piece the requirement at this time would just be reporting so the city can um understand aren't specific performance requirements yet. Um the intent would be just as Canarita said for us all to better understand what the impact of these are. So, as we continue to refine um the city's approach, we'll have kind of real meaningful data. If the impact is less than we worried, you know, great. But, you know, we'll know for certain. So, um yeah, we have about five or six minutes left together with the time we had scheduled. Um is there any kind of final final questions? And again, please add any questions you have and we can we can answer them as we go in in writing or during the commission meeting.

There are a few on monitoring since that was a topic we we just finished um that I can throw out there um quickly. um particularly regarding infrasound and electromagnetic um does the policy require any kind of monitoring for those and kind of some kind of impact that that might have on the community or an understanding of the impact that might have. There's a question about sound monitoring

infrasound monitoring and also electromagnetic waves. there's some, you know, uh, nonvisible things that kind of are produced by data centers, uh, that people have concerns about. Um, and if those will be monitored and and and if we have any ideas about the impacts those might have on communities around them. Um it's my understanding that like the any electromagnetic radiation would come from um like substations or within the facility itself and it's very very low and I believe that substations are designed so like people um aren't able to like access that infrastructure within the distance threshold before that radiation kind of like dies out. So it's not something that we're looking at monitoring. Um in terms of I believe it was like noise and heat was the other question I think. Um definitely looking at how we can get more information on noise. That's also a challenge to to monitor depending on what where a data center is and what's nearby it. And then with heat um trying to understand in the design requirements of a data center that they know where their heat plumes are are going. So any type of heat ejected from the building, it's designed in a way where it's not going to go directly onto like maybe a greenway or a sidewalk or anywhere where pedestrians would be nearby. But all of that kind of falls under how the data center would be designed. I think that was the question. I apologize if I missed some of it, but we'll make sure we get it completely answered

for sound. I know the way that transformers are monitored just from industry experience. Um the it's an e standard and it is there's a 3 foot away measurement and maybe a 10 foot away measurement or maybe it's one foot. I have them flipped. Um, but it's it's like anywhere between like 65 and 72 dB um at 3 ft away, which is pretty loud. Um, but those would be the transformers themselves. So, it really depends on the substation.

Great. Um, there is one question that I noticed a few times, so um I will pose that one as well. Um any data centers that are currently being going through the city's uh development pipeline and and permitting process uh will those data centers be subjected to these regulations?

Any any that are currently operating um will be expected. So, there's this whole applicability section at the bottom of the regulations that tries to provide clear answers to this. Um, I know probably a question on folks minds is will any of these things apply to the data center in the famous bar building? um kind of a truism in zoning policy is that um anything sort of applied for and approved prior to regulations being in place, those regulations cannot then apply to that applicant. Um, but I know for certain that the city did try to kind of use as much of this kind of the direction of the regulations and um sort of did its best to mirror these regulations as conditions on on that conditional use permit. Um, you know, I I do I I will be honest and say I think we've um you know, these are still in development. This is the process of developing regulation. So it might not be a perfect match, but um there are many specific conditions on that on that um approval and then also embedded within the community benefits agreement for that um that um are intended to be comprehensive for existing data centers that are currently operating. those would not um be expected to comply with these unless they expand physically or kind of jump into a new um power classification. So if they become standard instead of micro or major instead of standard even if

they don't physically expand um then these regulations would kick in and apply. That's what's in the draft right now. Well, I see we're at time and I think the rest of the questions uh need a further answer, something we don't have full time to to answer completely or honestly or to the to the fullest degree. So, um I will let Miam uh close us out.

Okay. Yeah. Great. Thank you, Dylan. And again, for anybody who submitted a question, we will review those and somehow either during the commission meeting or in writing before seek to answer those. Um, and yeah, some of the next steps here, right, are um any additional questions that you didn't think of tonight or maybe you're watching this after the meeting, you can submit uh via the Google form. I'll scroll back up to the information about where to find all this information. Um, sorry, probably prepared a little too much content for tonight. We'll post all of these slides online, so you'll have access to all of this. Um, you are welcome to, yeah, submit any feedback or questions in this Google form before next Monday. And um you're welcome to participate in the hearing on Monday. You know, the goal tonight was really exchange information to answer questions. The goal that night and through written feedback is to um get your feedback. So uh please do participate if you would like either in writing or the meeting um a week from tonight in the committee room. the um this this meeting could result in a vote by the planning commission. Um they could decide to take a little bit more time. I don't know. That'll be at the commission's discretion and decision. But when the planning commission does vote to recommend regulations, then the process will move to the board of aldermen and there will be an additional hearing uh in that legislative process in committee. So with that, I I'll just thank you all again. Also thank my colleagues at the city for sharing their time tonight. Um I know everybody already worked a full

day both at the city and members of the community attending. So um yeah, thank you very much and please uh feel free to continue sharing questions and feedback. Have a good