With no project pending, the council acted as similar developments fuel recall efforts and political backlash elsewhere in Oklahoma.
MIDWEST CITY — Data-center proposals have produced recall efforts, resignation demands and packed city council chambers elsewhere in Oklahoma. Midwest City acted before it had either a proposal or a political problem.
At Mayor Rick Rice’s urging, the City Council unanimously adopted zoning rules Tuesday that will subject any future data-center proposal to public hearings and require detailed disclosures involving electricity, water, wastewater and noise.
“We want to make sure that we stay proactive and ahead of these kinds of things,” Rice said.
City officials said no developer has approached Midwest City about building one.
Public hearings replace by-right development
Before Tuesday’s vote, data centers could be built by right in the city’s C-4 commercial district and three industrial zoning districts.
“Prior to doing this, a data center could just walk in, buy up some land and put in a data center because we didn’t define it,” Rice said. “We didn’t regulate it.”
The new ordinance eliminates that option. Data centers may now be considered only through a special-use permit in the I-1, I-2 and I-3 industrial districts, requiring public hearings before both the Planning Commission and City Council.
Community Development Director Matt Summers said staff found that data centers could be disruptive to residential property and place heavy demands on public utilities.
“We just felt it was prudent to be proactive before there was an application of that type,” Summers said.
The regulations require a landscaped buffer of at least 500 feet on data-center property adjoining land zoned or planned for residential use. The buffer increases to 1,000 feet for facilities measuring 100,000 square feet or larger.
Applicants also must disclose anticipated water consumption, power demand, cooling systems, wastewater discharge, fire-suppression plans, backup generators and chemicals or regulated pollutants expected in wastewater discharges. Preconstruction and post-construction noise studies would be required, with noise at property lines limited to 50 dBA and 60 dBC.
Mechanical equipment and electrical substations must be screened from adjacent roads and properties unless the main building provides the visual screen.
The city’s Ordinance Oversight Council Committee and Planning Commission unanimously recommended the changes before the council’s vote.
Projects bring political fallout elsewhere
Midwest City’s preventive approach comes as data-center proposals have generated intense political opposition in other Oklahoma communities.
In Yukon, residents launched recall efforts against Mayor Brian Pillmore and then-Vice Mayor Jeff Wootton over the proposed $1 billion Project Beltline data center. Wootton resigned while the effort was underway, and the city later certified a recall petition against Pillmore. Residents also have publicly demanded that Pillmore resign.
A campaign in Sand Springs sought to recall three council members who voted to approve zoning for the proposed Project Spring data center. The recall effort failed, though organizers said they submitted more than 1,600 signatures.
Oklahoma City took a different approach, placing a moratorium on most new data-center applications through Dec. 31 or until new regulations are adopted. Officials said the pause would allow the city to study energy use, water demand and land use.
Rice said he had been watching disputes involving data centers in Yukon and Piedmont. But at an Oklahoma Municipal League conference in Tulsa, he said, he found many officials from mostly rural communities interested in attracting the projects for their economic benefits.
“Just about every single community in Oklahoma wants one if they can get it,” Rice said. “But we’re not a small town and we’re not rural.”
Rice said that difference means a data center would not be a good fit within most of Midwest City.
No application pending
Rice said seven data centers have been built or are under construction in Oklahoma and another 13 are expected to break ground within a year. He did not identify his source, and OK Politics Today could not independently verify the figures.
“They’re coming,” Rice said. “So we’ve got to make sure that if it’s a neighbor that we have to live with, that we can put it in a place where it’s not going to affect our neighbors.”
Rice emphasized that Midwest City has received no data-center application or development inquiry. He said neither he nor other council members had signed a nondisclosure agreement involving such a project.
The ordinance instead gives the city a review process if an application arrives, including opportunities for neighboring residents to learn about the proposal and speak before a decision is made.
“I’m not trying to stop them,” Rice said. “I’m trying to keep them out of our neighborhoods or near our houses.”
