Johnson City, TN · Draft Ordinance §6.20.3.2.I

200 feet.

That's the whole separation the city's draft data-center ordinance puts between a data center and your property line. I measured what that actually allows. It is not enough, and the fix is specific: at least 600 feet, and preferably 1,000 feet measured to the building.

— parcels could host a data center today under the draft's 200 ft rule
— parcels qualify once lawful lot splits are counted, because the draft's rule moves when lot lines are redrawn
— homes would sit within 1,000 ft of a possible data center site

These are zone-compatible parcels: the sites where the geometry allows a data center under the draft ordinance. Every site still requires a Board of Zoning Appeals special exception, plus noise, vibration, environmental, and utility-capacity review before anything is built.

The map

Where the draft would let one go

Pick a methodology, drag the setback, and see what qualifies. Every layer is computed from the city's own GIS data by published scripts.

Setback 200 ft
Layers

I-2 zoning Buildable patch Building envelope Strict-eligible parcel Your address
Your address

How close could a data center be to your home?

The city's numbers

The city counted 27 eligible parcels. Twelve of them can't actually host one.

The city published parcel counts without naming the parcels. Its totals are a fingerprint, though, and working backward from the city's own arithmetic this site identified all 27. Under the ordinance's own 50 ft yard setbacks, 9 of them cannot hold a building of any size. Three more have no spot 200 ft from the homes the city's measurement skipped. One is an active rail corridor. The single parcel the city reported at 500 ft could hold a building of about 26 by 26 feet.

27 parcels identified 12 fail the draft's own test 9 can't hold any building 0 could put a building 1,000 ft from residential

See what's wrong with each parcel →

The ask

Raise it to 600 feet. Better: 1,000 feet, measured to the building.

I am asking the Commission to amend §6.20.3.2.I in one of two ways. At minimum, raise the property-line separation from 200 to 600 ft. Preferably, change what gets measured: run the separation to the data-center building itself and set it at 1,000 ft. The building-based rule is the stronger protection and the cleaner law, and it still leaves — viable industrial sites, named below with their buildable envelopes.

The preferred rule fixes the eligible set.
The — qualifying sites are knowable and publishable before a single application is filed. Redrawing lot lines can't add or remove one, because the test runs to the building's location, not to a boundary a developer can move. Under any property-line rule, 600 ft included, the set moves whenever lines are redrawn.
The distance is real.
1,000 ft measured to the building itself, verifiable at permit review. For comparison, the draft's 200 ft property-line rule guarantees only 250 ft between a data-center building and the nearest residential property line; the 600 ft version guarantees 650 ft.
No subdivision loophole.
Under a property-line rule, a developer can qualify a non-compliant parcel by drawing a new lot line at the setback contour. At 600 ft, — of the — eligible parcels qualify only through that maneuver. The building-based rule ends it.
Neither ask bans the use.
600 ft leaves — eligible parcels; 1,000 ft to the building leaves —. Compare a 1,000 ft property-line rule, which would leave — and invite a challenge that the ordinance prohibits the use outright. Measuring to the building is the only way to get 1,000 ft of protection with sites left over.
Draft: 200 ft
to the property line		 Ask: 600 ft
to the property line		 Preferred: 1,000 ft
to the building
Eligible parcels, existing lots – – –
Eligible parcels, with lot splits – – –
Lot splits change the count Yes Yes No
Guaranteed distance, building to nearest residential line 250 ft 650 ft 1,000 ft

The six sites that survive the preferred rule

These are the parcels where a data-center building could stand at least 1,000 ft from every residential use and district. Publish the list in the ordinance record and there is nothing left to litigate about where one can go.

Site Owner Parcel Compliant building area

What it means for homes

Under the draft as written, — homes would sit within 500 ft of a possible data-center site and — within 1,000 ft. To compare the draft and both asks fairly, the table below uses one yardstick for all three: the distance from each home to the nearest spot a data-center building could lawfully stand under that rule.

Homes within… …draft (200 ft to the property line) …ask (600 ft to the property line) …preferred (1,000 ft to the building)

Distance from each of the city's — dwelling address points to the nearest place a data-center building could lawfully stand under each rule: eligible I-2 land after the ordinance's own 50 ft yards and that rule's separation test, including lots a developer could lawfully carve. Lower is better; zeros are by construction, because under each rule no lawful building spot can be closer to a home than the rule allows. Computed by scripts/ask_exposure.py from the city's address layer against the published eligibility geometry.

Read the full analysis prepared for the Commission →