Peterborough is taking steps to develop new planning rules for large-scale data centres before any major proposal reaches City Hall.
Council has directed staff to undertake a comprehensive review of the city’s planning policies, land-use regulations and development approval process for major digital infrastructure, including artificial intelligence, hyperscale, enterprise and cloud-computing data centres.
The motion was originally scheduled for consideration earlier in September before being deferred to the September 28 council meeting.
The review will examine potential impacts and regulatory options involving noise, water and energy use, emissions, heat generation, infrastructure, servicing, employment, taxation, public health and land-use compatibility.
Staff have also been directed to conduct public consultation and examine whether environmental and energy performance information could be publicly reported where legally permitted.
Under the resolution, staff will first return with an interim report outlining the proposed scope of the study and consultation process before eventually bringing recommendations back to council.
The motion also establishes a process should a large data centre proposal arrive before the review is finished.
If the city receives a planning or building application for a data centre with a load of 50 megawatts or more, staff would schedule a special council meeting within seven days to consider an interim control bylaw.
The proposed bylaw could temporarily prohibit new data centres of that size on lands designated General Employment, Prestige Employment and Major Institution for up to one year while the city completes its study.
That means council has not imposed an immediate blanket moratorium on data centres through the motion. Instead, the interim control bylaw would come back for consideration if an application meeting the 50-megawatt threshold is received before the review is complete.
