Fairbanks planning staff back data center pause and urge a 40,000-square-foot threshold

Fairbanks North Star Borough planning staff recommend approving Mayor Grier Hopkins' proposed pause on large data center permits, with two changes. One would lower the size threshold from 50,000 square feet to 40,000, reaching smaller buildings.

The Planning Commission takes public testimony on the ordinance Nov. 10.

Hopkins proposed the pause in October. Under the ordinance, the borough would accept no new land use permit applications for large-scale data centers, and approve none already pending, through Dec. 31, 2027, unless the Assembly ends the pause sooner or extends it. The planning department would have six months to report on impacts and recommend land use rules.

The ordinance counts a facility as large-scale if it has peak demand or on-site generation of 5 megawatts or more, or more than 50,000 square feet of floor area devoted to data center operations. It says the pause would let the borough assess impacts such as power demand, water consumption, noise and land-use compatibility before development goes ahead.

In its staff report, the Department of Community Planning said it supports the pause to allow time to research, draft regulations and hold a public process. Staff want the size test to better align with the code's existing "large scale development" use, which sets 55,000 square feet for retail or wholesale buildings and 40,000 for entertainment facilities seating 800 or more. The second change would measure gross floor area. For large-scale developments, the code defines that as all floor space within a building's exterior walls.

"There have been inquiries received by the FNSB Community Planning Department on data centers potentially being developed in the community," the report said.

The borough's code has no definition of a data center and doesn't list it as a permitted or conditional use in any zone, staff said. The ordinance says large data centers would currently be permitted only in the borough's general use districts, which allow the widest range of land uses.

Staff said the pause would give the borough time to adopt its new comprehensive plan, which has more draft goals on data centers, and to write regulations before the pause ends. The plan itself won't ban data centers.

Data centers have been the most commented-on topic in the plan update, staff wrote. Sarah Dubowski Hollister, who wrote that she lives next door to a proposed data center lease parcel, asked the borough to "issue a moratorium on data centers until Title 18 can be updated." Title 18 is the borough's zoning code.

The Assembly sent the ordinance to the commission Oct. 22, with a recommendation due within 90 days.