Permitting

Ensure that a city has the ability to enforce the agreements made throughout the approval process. Enforcement must occur after the data center is approved, at any point during development or implementation of the data center, and once the data center is in operation on a consistent basis. The local government must also create the ability to institute penalties that go beyond nominal fines, including revoking a data center’s permit or certificate of occupancy.

Note: The specific mechanisms for continued monitoring, enforcement, and penalties will depend on each component of the application and are outlined in each corresponding section below.

Local governments must use the application process to demand as much transparency as possible.

Specify Minimum Transparency Requirements as Part of the Application Process

The minimum transparency requirements as part of the application process include, but are not limited to:

• water usage and mitigation;
• noise study and mitigation;
• energy usage and mitigation;
• on-site emissions;
• value of tax abatements developer is receiving for the project;
• name of all companies involved in data center project, including developer, shell companies, data center operators, and financers;
• jobs (short-term and permanent, hiring efforts, permanent employee wages); and
• a displacement and holistic environmental impact report, centering environmental justice considerations (such as those emerging from redlined/fenceline communities) that establishes the data center will not exacerbate the displacement of residents and local businesses.

Note: In some cases, data center developers are applying for permits without having tenants or end users in place. This can impede a city’s ability to demand transparency measures. Cities should reject any application that cannot account for the data center’s projected resource use or does not offer transparency into economic development terms.

Mandate Public Notice and Community Hearings

Require a minimum number of public community hearings as a central part of the approval process. Upon receipt of a data center application, the appropriate public administrator must add discussion of the data center application to the agenda of an upcoming regular meeting. 

Ensure there is adequate advertisement for the hearing, including but not limited to publication in officially designated newspapers, social media, and certified mailings to all households within the approving government’s jurisdiction. Jurisdictions that depend on key resources (e.g., watershed and energy infrastructure) planning to be used by the data center should also be notified. Clearly display the time and place of the hearing in all communications. 

Ensure that educational information is provided to residents well in advance of any hearing, with materials from independent assessments rather than developers. Engage in proactive outreach to community leaders, community groups, and residents of areas both next to the proposed site and that would be impacted more broadly by rate increases, pollution, or resource use.

Reject Proposals Without Adequate Transparency Measures

Reject data center development or expansion proposals that do not have adequate transparency measures. Establish a waiting period before the rejected proposals can be submitted for reconsideration.

1. “Palantir and AWS,” Palantir, https://www.palantir.com/partnerships/aws. ↩︎
2. Caroline Haskins, “ICE Is Paying Palantir $30 Million to Build ‘ImmigrationOS’ Surveillance Platform,” Wired, April 18, 2025, https://www.wired.com/story/ice-palantir-immigrationos. ↩︎

Revise the jurisdiction’s zoning code to establish conditional use permits as the mechanism to receive approval.

Set Distinct Class for Data Centers

By defining data centers as their own use class within zoning code, local governments can pass ordinances based on the unique characteristics of data centers. Without this step, data centers may fit within existing zoning laws that do not require special permits or applications (“by-right zoning”).

Define Data Centers

Define data centers in the most expansive possible way to avoid loopholes, currently and for future technological developments. Consider something like this:

“A facility, or portion of a facility, used or planned for use for the housing, operation, and/or co-location of computer and communication equipment and/or other associated components related to digital data operations for the purpose of storage, management, processing, and/or transmission of digital information.”

Note: This definition was written in reference to existing data center definitions.

• Reference from Atlanta, GA: “A facility engaged in the storage, management, processing, or transmission of digital data, which houses computer or network equipment, systems, servers, or appliances, and other associated components related to digital data operations.”
• Reference from Chandler, AZ: “A facility or portion of a facility housing networked computer systems and telecommunications equipment used for remote storage, processing, and distribution of data.”
• Reference from Londonderry, PA: “A facility used for the housing, operation, and/or co-location of computer and communication equipment for the purpose of storage, management, processing and/or transmission of digital information necessary for the operation of one of more business, commercial, or governmental entities.”
  

No Permit Unless Approved

Currently in many jurisdictions, data center approvals are “by-right,” meaning that projects that meet zoning criteria are automatically approved without requiring special permits or additional review. This prevents local governments from attaching conditions to the permitting process. To mitigate this, local governments must stipulate that data center development and expansion are not permitted unless approved through the conditional use permitting process. This allows local governments to articulate the necessary requirements in order for data centers to receive approval, and to reject applications that don’t meet those requirements. This should include applications for existing data centers to expand (i.e., turning existing sites into hyperscalers).

Attach Binding Conditions on the Approval Process

The core mechanism of a conditional use permit is to condition the permit on the basis of clearly specified guidelines and requirements. These include:

• An approved water usage plan (for details on how to structure the strongest possible local water regulations, see Protect Water Resources)
• An approved energy-usage plan (for details on how to structure the strongest possible local energy regulations, see Regulate and Limit Energy Use)
• An approved noise-mitigation plan (for details on how to structure the strongest possible noise-mitigation measures, see Institute Strong Noise Mitigation Measures)
• Commitment to abide by zoning regulations (for details on how to structure the strongest possible zoning regulations, see Pass Zoning Ordinances and Municipal Code Amendments)
• A binding commitment to continued post-approval transparency requirements (for details, see the next point on Post-Approval Transparency Measures)
• A binding commitment to abide by job-quality standards and local, targeted hiring for construction and data center jobs (for details on the strongest labor conditions, see Establish Local Fair Labor Requirements)
• A displacement and holistic environmental impact report, centering environmental justice considerations (such as those emerging from redlined/fenceline communities) that establishes the data center will not exacerbate the displacement of residents and local businesses
• If called for by frontline communities, a binding commitment to enforce Community Benefits Agreements (for our perspective and cautions on this process, see Considerations for Community Benefits Agreements)

It is equally important to ensure there are continued transparency mechanisms in place after the approval process. Without these, effective enforcement of conditions in data center approvals and addressing harms from construction and operation will be more difficult.

Require Monthly Public Disclosure

Require data centers to give monthly reports on data centers’ water and electricity usage.

Additionally, data centers must report the results of noise studies; the amount of tax incentives received from local and state governments; the number of jobs created, including the wages and benefits offered to both construction and permanent employees; and the total amount of dollars invested into the community at minimum every year.

This information must be submitted to the local agency overseeing the permitting process to ensure compliance with the terms of the conditional permit. Information should also be reported to a state agency that gathers and discloses this information online. For more information about how states can track and publish these metrics online, see Establish a Statewide Clearinghouse. A state clearinghouse might not be politically feasible in all states.

Ensure Continued Community Involvement

The local government must establish mechanisms for continued community involvement, including a system of public reporting and a city response system to address community concerns. This should also include a post-approval hearing for additional transparency.

Establish Enforcement Mechanisms

Local governments must build out an enforcement mechanism to ensure that data centers abide by transparency requirements contingent upon approval. Jurisdictions must reserve the right to revoke the conditional use permit or remove the certificate of occupancy if conditions are not met. Additional penalties for violation of application terms can include non-nominal fines and civil penalties.

Note: Cities may have to amend their zoning code to increase the acceptable fines, and that cities may need to consult the legality of occupancy removal.