The Park County commissioners determined last week to ensure that, if a company wants to build a data center on private land in rural Park County, the community would have a say before any potential approval. 

At least, that’s what will be in the latest draft of the county’s development standards and regulations amendments, which will be published for public review before the next board votes.

With all of the legitimate concerns around these large buildings regarding water and power usage, requiring a special use permit in any of the available areas will ensure two public hearings: One before a Park County Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation, and another before a commissioners decision. 

It’s not a moratorium, but it is a way to ensure one of these buildings can’t simply begin going up while neighbors are unaware of what is going on. 

The good news for those worried is right now there are no signs that a company is looking to purchase land to build a data center in Park County. After all, as Commissioner Scott Mangold said, this area lacks the infrastructure that has made Cheyenne such a popular spot for them, including interstate highway access and a bigger city able to house the workers needed to build them. 

However, as County Planning Director Joy Hill noted, Park County does have one thing developers covet for data centers: lots of rural land. 

She said her biggest issue is simply all of the unknowns about the impact of data centers in recommending commissioners restrict them to needing a SUP. 

Commissioners have also restricted in what areas a data center would be allowed. As it stands, only in the large rural zones and industrial zones would a landowner even be allowed to apply for an SUP for a data center, and as Mangold noted, most of the planned industrial zones in the proposed new zoning map don’t offer enough space for one anyway. 

However, also mentioned was the importance of not simply trying to prevent data centers altogether, as Mangold said an attempt to do that could wind up the same way commissioners tried and failed to prevent a cell tower in the Wapiti Valley after neighbor complaints. In the end the cell tower company’s lawyers won in court and forced the county to allow the construction. 

And Hill brought up private property rights, and said if a landowner has something like 3,000 acres and wants to place a data center on the property, they should at least have the opportunity to apply for a permit. 

That is, in the end, the debate: Private property rights vs. community concerns and wellbeing. With this plan, I think the commissioners are proposing a system that will hopefully find the happy medium.