Cuyahoga Falls City Council has adopted strict new regulations for any future data center projects in the city, capping the size, power draw and noise of the facilities and reserving the final say over water use to the city’s own utility departments, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
Council approved the regulations at its Nov. 9 meeting, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The rules arrive as communities across Summit and Portage counties — and across Ohio — race to decide how much room, if any, to make for an industry that has grown to nearly 250 data centers spread through 66 of the state’s 88 counties, according to Data Center Map figures cited by the Akron Beacon Journal.
Under the new rules, data centers will be permitted only in the city’s employment and manufacturing districts, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. No single data center building may exceed 5,000 square feet, and no more than one data center will be allowed on a single property — limits that effectively rule out the sprawling, warehouse-scale campuses that have drawn opposition in other Ohio communities…