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A Measure Setting Data Center Noise, Light, and Reporting Standards — City of La Pine, Oregon.

Sec. 1 — Findings and Purpose

(a) The people of the City of La Pine find that large data centers can generate substantial noise, light pollution, electricity demand, and water demand that may materially affect nearby residential, commercial, and natural areas.

(b) The purpose of this Ordinance is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by establishing objective nuisance standards for covered data centers and requiring disclosure of resource use.

Sec. 2 — Definitions

Data Center means a facility or group of facilities used primarily for the storage, processing, routing, or management of digital data, information technology infrastructure, cloud services, server hosting, or related computational operations, whether operated on a single parcel or multiple parcels under common operation.

Covered Data Center means a Data Center that meets any one or more of the following criteria:

1. Has a connected electrical load of 5 megawatts or more;
2. Contains 25,000 square feet or more of conditioned floor area used for data center operations; or
3. Is expanded or modified in a manner that causes it to meet any threshold in this definition.

Generator means any standby, backup, emergency, or supplemental combustion, turbine, or engine-driven electrical generation equipment associated with a Covered Data Center.

Property Line means the boundary line of the lot or parcel on which the Covered Data Center is located.

Noise means sound measured on the A-weighted decibel scale, or other measurement expressly authorized in this Ordinance.

Light Pollution means exterior lighting that causes measurable light trespass, glare, or uplight beyond the Property Line.

Emergency Operation means use of a Generator during a utility outage, brownout, voltage event, catastrophic equipment failure, fire, natural disaster, public safety emergency, or other comparable event that the Covered Data Center demonstrates poses an immediate threat to life, safety, or critical equipment necessary to prevent physical damage. Emergency Operation does not include peak shaving, load management, demand response, routine backup testing, or economic dispatch.

Non-Emergency Operation means Generator use that is not an Emergency Operation.

Sec. 3 — Nighttime Noise Standards

Between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., no Covered Data Center shall cause or permit any noise originating from any source on the Covered Data Center site to exceed 55 dBA as measured at the Property Line, excluding noise governed by Section 5.

Sec. 4 — Tonal and Low-Frequency Noise Standards

(a) This section establishes objective, measurable standards to limit tonal and low-frequency noise from Covered Data Centers. Such noise can adversely affect the health, safety, comfort, and welfare of persons in nearby residences and workplaces, and can disturb wildlife.

(b) No Covered Data Center shall cause or permit the emission of low-frequency noise that exceeds the following tone-excess limits when measured at the Property Line:

1. For one-third octave bands with center frequencies from 25 Hz through 125 Hz, the sound pressure level in any band shall not exceed the average level of the two adjacent one-third octave bands by more than 15 dB;
2. For one-third octave bands with center frequencies from 160 Hz through 400 Hz, the sound pressure level in any band shall not exceed the average level of the two adjacent one-third octave bands by more than 8 dB; and
3. For one-third octave bands with center frequencies from 500 Hz through 10,000 Hz, the sound pressure level in any band shall not exceed the average level of the two adjacent one-third octave bands by more than 5 dB.

(c) Compliance shall be determined using one-third octave band analysis performed in accordance with generally accepted acoustical measurement practices.

Sec. 5 — Generator Noise Standards

(a) The purpose of this section is to prevent generator noise that constitutes a nuisance at the Property Line.

(b) No Generator serving a Covered Data Center shall cause or permit any noise emission from the Generator to be audible beyond the Property Line, except during Emergency Operation, or during maintenance or testing as provided in subsection (c).

(c) Noise emissions from Generator maintenance and testing that are audible beyond the Property Line are permitted only between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and only for a total of 120 minutes per Generator in any calendar month.

Sec. 6 — Light Pollution Standards

(a) All exterior lighting shall be fully shielded, downward-directed, and arranged so that no direct light is emitted above the horizontal plane or beyond the Property Line.

(b) Exterior lighting shall only use light sources with a correlated color temperature not exceeding 2200 Kelvin.

(c) Exterior lighting shall emit no more than two percent (2%) of total light output at wavelengths below 500 nanometers, a range associated with blue and blue-violet light.

(d) Searchlights, laser displays, architectural uplighting, façade lighting, and decorative lighting visible beyond the Property Line are prohibited.

(e) Compliance with subsections (b) and (c) shall be determined using generally accepted photometric or spectroradiometric measurement practices, as applicable.

Sec. 7 — Disclosure Requirements

(a) Each Covered Data Center shall file an annual report with the City disclosing information reasonably necessary to evaluate facility scale and resource intensity, including:

1. Total annual electricity consumption;
2. Total annual water consumption;
3. Total annual generator runtime; and
4. Number of full-time equivalent jobs on site.

(b) The report shall be filed with the City by February 15 of each year. The City shall make the report available to the public.

(c) Information in a report may be redacted only to the extent required or expressly authorized by applicable federal or state law protecting trade secrets or other confidential information. Any redaction shall be narrowly tailored, and the Covered Data Center shall provide a written explanation of the basis for each redaction. The burden of establishing the applicability of any claimed confidentiality protection rests solely with the Covered Data Center.

Sec. 8 — Notice and Opportunity to Cure

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c), before assessing a civil penalty for a first violation, the City shall provide written notice of violation to the Covered Data Center describing the violation with reasonable specificity.

(b) The Covered Data Center shall have 7 calendar days after receipt of the notice to cure the violation and provide written confirmation of cure to the City.

(c) No notice and cure period is required if the City finds that the violation:

1. Creates an immediate threat to public health or safety;
2. Involves unauthorized Generator noise during a Non-Emergency Operation that is ongoing or repeatedly recurring;
3. Involves Noise or Light Pollution that materially and continuously interferes with nearby occupied property; or
4. Involves a repeated violation of the same standard within a 12-month period after notice of a prior violation.

Sec. 9 — Enforcement

(a) A violation of this Ordinance is declared to be a public nuisance.

(b) The City may enforce this Ordinance by any lawful means, including notice of violation, civil penalty, injunction, abatement, or other equitable relief.

(c) Civil penalties:

1. First violation: $1,000 per day for each day the violation continues after the cure period expires;
2. Second violation of the same provision within 12 months: $2,500 per day;
3. Third or subsequent violation of the same provision within 12 months: $2,500 per day, and the City may seek injunctive relief or other court-ordered remedies without further warning.

(d) Each day a violation continues constitutes a separate violation.

Sec. 10 — Administrative Rules

The City may adopt rules, procedures, forms, and measurement protocols necessary to implement this Ordinance, provided that no rule may expand, narrow, or modify any substantive requirement of this Ordinance, and is consistent with the text and purpose of this Ordinance.

Sec. 11 — Severability

If any provision of this Ordinance, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remaining provisions and applications shall remain in full force and effect to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Sec. 12 — Effective Date

This Ordinance takes effect 30 days after certification of the election results, unless a different effective date is required by the Oregon Constitution, Oregon law, or the City Charter.

Sec. 13 — People's Intent Regarding Amendment or Repeal

The people of the City of La Pine declare their intent that this Ordinance expresses the voters' will and that any amendment or repeal should be referred to the voters at a subsequent election. Nothing in this section is intended to limit any authority that may exist under the Oregon Constitution, Oregon law, or the City Charter.

Sec. 14 — Construction

This Ordinance shall be construed consistently with its stated purposes, findings, and operative provisions to protect public health, safety, welfare, and neighborhood livability from the impacts addressed by this Ordinance.