At its August 13, 2024, meeting, the Branson Board of Aldermen (BOA) passed “Bill No. 6472 An Ordinance For Municipal Code Amendments Throughout Chapter 94, Including But Not Limited To The Industrial Zoning District, Noise Regulations, And Special Use Requirements For Data Centers, Data Mining And Similar Industries.” The vote was five to one with Alderman Marshall Howden, Alderman - Ward I; Clay Cooper, Alderman - Ward I; Glenn Schulz, Alderman - Ward II; Ralph LeBlanc, Alderman - Ward III; and Ruth Denham, Alderman - Ward III voting “Yes” and Thomas ‘Artie’ Lucas, Alderman - Ward II voting “No.”
On June 4, 2024, the Branson Board of Aldermen held a special meeting to consider imposing a 100-day administrative delay and moratorium on applications and permits for developing data centers and cryptocurrency mining centers in Branson. During that meeting, Amanda Ross, Acting Planning and Development Director for the city said that such operations had become a worldwide concern due to infrastructure requirements, energy consumption, noise pollution and other challenges the Branson Municipal Code needed to address. The moratorium passed by a four (4) to two (2) vote, with aldermen Howden and Clay Cooper voting “No” and aldermen Glenn Schulz, Thomas’ Artie’ Lucas, Ralph LeBlanc, and Ruth Denham voting “Yes.”
During the moratorium, after extensive research and input from stakeholders and community members, the Planning Department developed an ordinance. It was sent up to the BOA after a Planning Commission review, public hearing and unanimous approval at a Special Planning Commission Meeting held on July 29, 2024. At a Special Meeting of the BOA on August 1, 2024, the ordinance passed on its First Reading and was on the Consent Agenda for a Second and Final Reading at the BOA’s August 13 meeting.
Typically, unless an alderman requests an item be removed, the Consent Agenda and all items on it are approved without further discussion. When this happens, the item becomes the first item on the Regular Agenda.
At the August 13 meeting, alderman Glen Schultz asked for the item to be removed from the Consent Agenda. He presented proposed amendments relating to the definition of Sound Pressure Level (SPL), industrial use standards, appeals and setbacks. After the aldermen and public comments, as indicated in paragraph one above, the ordinance passed.
Highlights of the ordinance include the definition of terms such as Data Center, Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency Data Center, Commercial Cryptocurrency Mining, Cryptocurrency Server Farm, and Manufactured Engineered Non-Residential Unit (MENU). It limits the operation of Data Centers to Industrial Zoning Districts and then only with a Special Use Permit and requires that the Manufactured Engineered Non-residential Units (MENUs), which will generate the majority of the heat and noise from the operation, be hidden “from view by a combination of landscaping, an opaque fence, or a decorative wall. The fence or wall shall be of a height equal to, or greater than the height of the MENU being screened.”
Throughout the process, the noise generated by these operations was a primary concern. The ordinance defines “Noise” as “any sound which annoys or disturbs humans or which causes or tends to cause an adverse psychological or physiological effect on humans.” “Noise Disturbance” is “any sound which: (a.) Endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals; or (b.) Annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities; or (c.) Endangers or injures persons’ real property,” and sets appropriate Decibel and Sound Pressure Levels designed to protect the public.
The ordinance measures noise levels using Sound Pressure Level (SPL) instead of the less restrictive Decibel (dBa). The proposed ordinance reads, “The SPL attributable to infrastructure of the data center property shall not exceed 65 dBC, as measured at all data center property line. For data centers located within 500 feet of any allowed residential use or district, place of worship, daycare, park and educational facilities, the SPL attributable to the facility shall not exceed 55 dBC at all data center property line.”
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