Kirksville now has firm restrictions on water consumption and the environmental impacts of future data center projects within city limits, after Kirksville City Council unanimously approved regulations this week.
The ordinance effectively prevents hyper-scale data centers within city limits. City planner Diane Albrecht said any projects would be confined to a small industrial zone away from most residential buildings.
“While Kirksville has not been approached about a data center, so many other places have,” Albrecht said.
Albrecht explained the city did not pursue an outright ban because it would have only delayed the question of data centers in Kirksville and could have created a legal liability. Data center moratoriums are facing ongoing court challenges in Springfield and elsewhere.
Kirksville Mayor Zac Burden said a major concern for the city is protecting its water sources, because Kirksville sells water to the Adair County Water District, which then distributes it to the rest of the county.
Kirksville’s regulations require data centers to utilize closed-loop cooling systems, where water circulates through pipes to cool off the servers inside. They’re less energy efficient and more costly for data center developers, but they consume up to 70% less water than open-loop systems where water, often provided by nearby municipalities, evaporates to cool off internal systems.
On top of other environmental considerations, data centers in Kirksville could only emit continuous sounds that reach the noise level of normal conversation during the day, which is around 55 decibels. That number drops at night to 40 decibels, or the sound of a quiet library.
But these restrictions only go as far as Kirksville — a data center could still be built just outside city lines.
“I’m hoping that we’re also showcasing to residents who live outside of city limits, but in the county, what it is that they could ask from the county commission in order to regulate this,” Burden said.
Adair County declared an intent to review regulations on large-scale facility developments like data centers in September. None have been approved yet.
