York County looks to change where data centers can go, and how they’re approved

Amid public concerns about data centers, and days before an update on a massive project slated for Lake Wylie, York County is taking a closer look at where the server site facilities should go. And, what it will take to approve new ones.

The county also could add new conditions related to sound and vibration requirement, cooling systems, buffers, setbacks, equipment screening and building facades.

York County Council scheduled a meeting Friday afternoon, Feb. 6, to start the process of updating its zoning code related to data centers. Changes are coming due to a county review and public concerns, according to the county.

The council held its most recent meeting Feb. 2 with a large anti-data center sign behind the podium used for public comment. Several speakers questioned the county on the controversial Silfab Solar project, but some also offered concerns about the QTS data center under construction at Hands Mill Highway and Campbell Road.

York County approved a tax incentive deal three years ago for the $1 billion data center project. In late December, QTS bought more than $26 million of property near its site, off Paraham Road, for expansion. The company has a public meeting scheduled for Feb. 10 at Oakridge Middle School.

Public concerns about data centers

Rebecca Cichy asked the county to get issues like lighting right before a data center is built, and issues become permanent. She said she still wants to have conversations with her 4-year-old daughter about stars in what has traditionally been a rural area beside the QTS project.

“They are part of childhood, and part of why many of us choose to live here, under the sky that still feels peaceful and natural,” Cichy said.

Steve Penland, whose property also borders the QTS site, heard details from the company at a prior public event, he said. Penland is concerned that the county will have to figure out power usage that could double current demand, and that QTS will only plant trees in other parts of the county to account for the hundreds of acres they’re clearing.

“The sad part of this exchange is that I believe the QTS responses were truthful,” Penland said.

Residents want answers before the project is complete, and changes become more difficult.

“It’s about whether children in our community will grow up knowing the night sky filled with stars, or one washed out by industrial infrastructure that never sleeps,” Cichy said.

York County data center changes

The new conditions York County will consider would apply to projects that are allowed in areas zoned for business and technology. The county also will consider whether to add data centers as a special exception in properties zoned for industrial use.

Special exceptions allow the county or its zoning appeals board to look at and decide on projects individually. That’s different from a by-right zoning, where projects listed in zoning classifications are allowed as long as they’re built within county code.

What projects are allowed in which zoning districts has been a hotly debated issue in York County. When the county approved the 2023 tax deal for QTS, the council approved a separate agreement for Silfab. The county decided solar panel manufacturing should be allowed in areas zoned light industrial. The zoning appeals board decided it shouldn’t, voting that it should only go on sites zoned heavy industrial.

Those competing decisions spurred lawsuits and a steady wave of public feedback against the Silfab project ever since. Much of it has come from parents concerned about students attending Flint Hill Elementary School, which opened last year near the Silfab site.

Any changes to data center rules, including where they can go or how they could be approved, would take three Council votes. That process typically takes at least a couple of months. But, the county is using a rule that makes any changes effective as the first of those three votes — presumably on Friday afternoon.