Onondaga County is embarking on a half million-dollar study of the impacts and infrastructure needs of data centers. County Executive Ryan McMahon is creating a task force of department heads who will seek professional input on land use, energy, and water requirements. The study will also consider potential noise, environmental, and operational issues. McMahon said the first-of-its-kind study in the state will look at existing centers to find out what works and what doesn’t.
“What we want is to have the best information on best practices for these developments that are knocking on the doors of local municipalities so local municipalities can make decisions,” he said.
Earlier this spring, Lysander leaders approved a six-month moratorium so the town could further examine the impact of a potential massive data center on a 124-acre parcel. McMahon said the town asked the county’s planning department to be part of their study group, but he said this new study will take a deeper dive. McMahon said three layers of approval are needed for data center development.
“If we get a proposal where the locals have said, yes, we approve the local zoning, the state of New York says yes, there is power, then we will look at it from the standpoint of do we have the wastewater capacity in that particular area,” he said.
McMahon said outside of wastewater, the county can’t approve or prohibit data centers. The state can’t, either, but lawmakers passed a one-year moratorium on permits for large data centers that awaits the governor’s signature.
McMahon expects the county to complete the study by year’s end.
