SB 288

Abstract

Data centers; noise abatement. Providesthat any local government land use application required for the sitingof a data center shall be approved only in accordance with certainnotice and noise abatement requirements. The bill provides that residentswithin a half-mile radius of the parcel shall receive notice of theproposed data center and that the data center operator shall holdtwo neighborhood meetings. The bill requires a data center operatorto design and build the data center to incorporate sound mitigationmethods sufficient to prevent the sound levels emanating from thedata center from exceeding the ambient noise levels that were observedin a baseline study, as determined by a third-party acoustic engineer.The bill also provides that upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy,and for five years thereafter, the data center operator shall conducta noise study performed by a third-party acoustical engineer to documentnoise levels emanating from the data center measured at the propertyline of the nearest property to the data center property that isplanned or zoned for residential land uses, or other noise sensitiveuse as reasonably determined by the locality, during peak operationof the data center mechanical equipment. The bill also provides that if the data center operator intends to use backup power generatorson the parcel, the operator shall maintain a public website announcingthe times when the generators will be in operation.