Legislative Committee Discusses Data Center Zoning Regulations - April 6, 2026
Legislative Committee Meeting: Data Center Code Revisions
The St. Charles Parish Legislative Committee met on Monday, April 6, 2026, at 5:00 PM in the Council Chambers to discuss proposed code revisions for data centers. The meeting featured a presentation from Planning & Zoning Director Michael Albert and Parish President Matthew Jewell, followed by public comments and extensive council debate. No formal vote was taken on the ordinance, but the discussion set the stage for potential adoption at a future meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Joseph Coco (Destrehan) – Works in biomedical informatics; expressed support for regulation but noted significant gaps: an AI data center pulling hundreds of megawatts from the grid could still be classified M1 if it does not self-generate power, backup generators could be numerous and noisy, and the ordinance lacks provisions on water consumption and electrical demand.
- George Vance (St. Rose) – Urged proper siting; expressed concerns that 300-foot buffers are insufficient for noise and pollution from backup generators, and that screening and berms may not mitigate low-frequency noise.
- Andrew Marcus (Luling) – Local investor in Esperanza Business Park; supported data centers and smart regulation; argued a moratorium would be a bad idea; cited potential economic benefits like property tax relief and infrastructure upgrades seen in Richland Parish.
- Rebecca Hillburn (Destrehan) – Artist impacted by generative AI; asked about penalties for violations and whether fines would simply be a cost of doing business.
- Courtney Scanlan (Destrehan) – Opposed bringing AI/data centers; concerned about community health and that investments are not in the best interest of residents.
Discussion Items
- Ordinance Overview (Michael Albert, Planning & Zoning Director): The proposed ordinance defines data centers and differentiates between M1 (light industrial) and M2 (heavy industrial) based on on-site power generation. Key protections include a 300-foot buffer from residences, landscaping/berm/sound wall options, a 55-decibel noise limit at the property line adjacent to residential areas, and restrictions on generator testing hours (7 a.m. – 6 p.m.).
- Parish President Matthew Jewell presented a slide show illustrating different data center types (enterprise, colocation, cloud, hyperscale, modular). He argued the ordinance is pragmatic: most data centers are small and fit in M1 without impact; hyperscale facilities requiring on-site generation would go to M2 (with 2,000-foot buffer). He emphasized that St. Charles Parish is not a candidate for large hyperscale campuses due to land constraints and power availability, and that the ordinance is proactive to protect residents.
- Councilman Walter Pilié voiced concerns about rushing, advocating for more study on low-frequency noise, acoustical analysis, and potential loopholes. He questioned the 300-foot buffer’s effectiveness and cited Loudoun County, Virginia’s experience with data center noise problems. He noted that the parish’s existing noise ordinance exempts approved industrial operations.
- Councilwoman Holly Fonseca supported the ordinance as a good starting point, comparing it to the solar ordinance which was later improved. She noted it is better than the current absence of regulation.
- Councilwoman Michelle O’Daniels thanked the administration but highlighted issues: definition of data center scope, enforcement responsibilities, height restrictions, low-frequency noise measurement, and the need for acoustical analysis. She asked clarifying questions about noise measurement at the receiving property line.
- Parish President Jewell responded that backup generation noise is not unique to data centers; many existing industrial facilities have large generators. He argued that low-frequency noise from large facilities would be confined to M2 zones with 2,000-foot buffers.
- Chairman Bob Fisher commended the work and noted the parish has resources (industry partners, VPP star sites) to address enforcement and noise concerns.
Key Outcomes
- No vote was taken on the proposed data center code revisions. The committee discussed the ordinance at length but did not advance it to a formal vote.
- The committee adjourned at 5:58 PM. The discussion will likely continue at a future committee or council meeting.
- A related moratorium on data centers (agenda item 2026-0114) is scheduled for a public hearing at the April 20, 2026 council meeting.
Meeting Transcript
And welcome to the legislative committee meeting on Monday, April 6th, 2026, at 5 p.m. in the council chambers and the Parish Courthouse. Please sign up all electronic devices and remove all hats. This meeting is called to order with a silent prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. One nation on the God, individual with liberty and justice for all. Alrighty, thank you. Uh matters before the committee. 2026 0089, a discussion regarding code revisions as it pertains to data centers. So Mr. Albert, why don't you kick it off for us? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As a follow-up to the last legislative meeting at the parish president's direction, and after consulting with the council, you we recognize that the parish was at a point where data centers were essentially unregulated and would default into industrial zoning districts of the parish without further regulation or consideration. So what my office did was sit down and draft a set of common sense regulations that seek to appropriately place data centers to define them to establish what zoning districts they go and the difference between whether it's M1 or M2. We also establish a set of protections. But in general, you can think of them as residential areas, nursing homes, um, parks, recreational places. So we uh we establish a buffer in this and we establish some um noise protection regulations as well. Um to go a little bit further into it, the uh the types of data centers are distinguished by whether or not they are self-generating in terms of power, whether they have on-site power generation, those would go into M2. Absent that the uses would default to a light industrial use and go into M1. Um you have the ordinance in front of you. I won't go over all of the specifics of the setback restrictions, but in general, it's a 300-foot buffer from residences. Uh the landscaping is very similar to what we did with the solar ordinances, but it does have the option of a landscaped berm, which is like a six-foot-tall wall of dirt that could separate and protect from noise. We have a sound regulation of 55 decibels at the property boundary for the uh data center use. Um and that's effectively ambient outdoor noise, which you would hear standing anywhere in your neighborhood. And lastly, we have some requirements for equipment screening. So the most noticeable part of one of these uses would be the generators where the substantial HVAC units causing sound, and those are required to be buffered and screened within the site. So uh I'll leave it from there. And if there's any questions about the ordinance, I'll do my best to help with that. Thank you. Hi, Mr. Albert, thank you. Uh Mr. Jewell, I believe you have some slides and some information you want us to review. Yes, Chairman. I'll just add to what Michael said. First, you know, I want to talk about the fact that we have different levels of data centers. Do we have the slide presentation? So we we put this together today um just to kind of talk about the the different levels because I think we're basing the actions that we're taking off of the ones that we're reading about every day in news articles and you know across the countries. Your hyperscale, Meta Hyperion, Richland Parish, Amazon, X, all these other folks that are doing these really large campuses, when in fact the vast majority of these types of data centers are not that. Um and they've been around for uh a while. So they've been around for decades. We'll go to the next slide, Sam. Um first, your smallest level uh of a data center. We'll go to the next slide. Can you click it? Okay, thank you. That's okay. Technology again. So anyway, well, we'll just talk about this. Uh so you have enterprise level data centers, which is something like there we go.
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