Draft Hutchinson data center rules would confine big facilities to industrial parks, leave water cap blank

Large data centers could be confined to Hutchinson's two industrial parks, barred from water-heavy evaporative cooling and held to nighttime noise limits under draft rules the Planning Commission is set to review Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The draft defines a large-scale center as 100,000 square feet or more of combined footprint, counting cooling equipment, generators, substations and all planned phases of a campus. It would permit those only in the I-3 industrial district within the Kansas Enterprise and Kimbell industrial parks.

Smaller centers could locate in four zoning districts but would need a conditional use permit outside the parks.

A staff report from Community Development Director Matt Williams says the meeting is for commissioners to review the first draft, identify needed revisions and give staff more direction before the rules are scheduled for formal consideration.

Resources and the environment were the dominant concerns among the 120 people who attended an August open house, according to the commission's Oct. 13 minutes. The minutes also note ten focus groups and a September meeting where concerns about economic benefits were raised.

The draft would prohibit open-loop evaporative cooling as a facility's primary cooling method. It would require air-cooled systems, closed-loop liquid systems that recirculate the same cooling fluid, or other water-efficient systems approved by the City Engineer, along with a water management plan and city-approved meters.

The annual cap on water use, which would cover every source from municipal water to private wells across an entire campus, is blank. Staff also flagged as unresolved what would happen if a facility exceeded it; a staff note in the draft asks, "REVIEW — What should the water limit per year be?"

Sound measured at a data center's property line could not exceed 60 decibels (dBA) from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. or 50 dBA from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Routine backup generator testing would be limited to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, excluding federal holidays.

The city could require added sound attenuation where a center is near homes.

Applicants would pay for off-site utility and road improvements unless the city's governing body approves a separate agreement. They would also need written documentation from the electric utility before receiving a building permit.

The draft leaves open whether large data centers inside the parks would need a conditional use permit, a review that lets the city gather public input and set special rules before a project can move forward.

According to the city's summary of the Oct. 13 study session, the case for a permit was that it is the most transparent option and what the public requested, while the case against was that clear standards give developers certainty. The commission leaned slightly toward no permit in the parks, conditioned on data center meetings being recorded and posted online.

Large facilities would have to file a decommissioning plan. Although the summary records commission direction to require financial assurance, likely a surety bond, the draft still flags whether such security will be required and how the city would make sure cleanup money exists if an owner fails to do the cleanup.

As of October, the city had received no applications, zoning requests, permits or incentive requests for a data center or utility-scale battery storage project, according to a city fact sheet. Temporary rules adopted in June already require a conditional use permit for either; the permanent rules would replace that requirement for data centers.

A public hearing on the regulations is scheduled for Nov. 10, with City Council review anticipated Dec. 1.

Tuesday's meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 123 E. Avenue B. The agenda lists the data center discussion as a non-public-hearing item, includes a general public comment period limited to five minutes and shows two subdivision plats near North Monroe Street and West 43rd Avenue deferred again, to Nov. 10.

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