What this draft proposes
It creates a Technology Innovation district, but treats data centers as special use permit uses that must clear stronger documentation, utility, noise, vibration, emergency, and decommissioning requirements before any building permit issues.
Status: this draft is still being refined. Final, attorney-approved language will be released when it’s ready. The noise and vibration ordinance has now been adopted as Ordinance 272; the community’s focus turns to defending it and finalizing this M-3 zoning language.
Six core protections
Special use review
Data centers are not listed as by-right uses. They require special use permit review with public notice and documented findings.
Capacity findings
The City must determine that utility capacity exists under conservative, long-term operating assumptions before the project advances.
Independent studies
Applications must include water, wastewater, electricity, environmental, construction-route, decommissioning, and emergency-response materials prepared by independent qualified consultants.
Scaled setbacks & height tradeoffs
Setbacks from streets and adjacent residential or agricultural property start at 300 feet for 50-acre parcels. Building height baseline is 45 feet, and any increase requires earned setbacks — an additional 150 feet of setback for every 5 feet of additional height.
Noise and vibration
Historic baselines, predictive modeling, property-line limits, infrasound limits, and post-construction verification — not just nuisance language. Specific dB ceilings are still being refined in this draft.
Recorded development agreement
Development agreement terms bind future owners, operators, and tenants before any building permit issues.
Read the working draft
This is the current working draft of the M-3 ordinance — language Mason residents are still refining. It is not yet final.
What you can do
Read the working draft, share input with City Council, and help fund the legal and technical work behind these protections. The noise and vibration ordinance has now been adopted as Ordinance 272 — and we’re ready to referendum any attempt to weaken it.