The Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission will hear a request Thursday to rezone a lot north of town into an industrial lot. This change in zoning would allow for the possibility of a data center to open on the land in the future.
The request was made by the owner of the property, who noted that a data center “may be pursued on the site.”
In a published agenda report, the committee indicated its support for the approval of the rezoning request stating that it “aligns with the land use context.”
Elyse Schaeffer, policy coordinator for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, said it's difficult to gauge the impact this could have on the community because of the lack of transparency and requirements that developers disclose how much energy a data center uses.
“‘Data center’ as a term encompasses a really wide range of things,” Schaeffer said. “It could be a relatively small project, or it could be something that uses up to 200 megawatts of electricity.”
She also said a new center may delay efforts to move toward cleaner, more renewable sources of energy in the state.
“If they have all these new big power users coming online,” Schaeffer said. “There's no reason they won't just delay that closure, unless we require that they build out new renewable energy infrastructure.”
In an email response to KBIA, Pat Zenner, Columbia development services manager, said the final development plans must be found to be in full compliance with city regulations before a data center may be seriously considered for the lot. Zenner said these requirements have not yet been assessed given the current zoning “does not permit the proposed use of this land as a data center.”
The commission will offer recommended action for the Columbia City Council to consider in respect to the request, but the council has final say on approval or denial of the proposed land use.
The Planning and Zoning meeting will be held Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.
