Data center approvals in City of New Albany, OH

Updated October 2026

Data centers are allowed by right where the district permits them, subject to use-specific standards, so the risk sits in the standards and the site plan, not a hearing. Hearings: Planning Commission → City Council → Architectural Review Board → Board of Zoning Appeals.

What the timeline looks like

working days; discretionaryApproval is the final development plan on an already-zoned site (two Planning Commission cycles, estimate; a rezoning, where even possible, is about 150); sitePlan is the engineering construction drawings approval (estimate); gradingPermit is the phased foundation / early-start approval under OBC 105.4 and the thirty-calendar-day plan clock (published, about 22 working days); buildingPermit is the thirty-calendar-day clock under OBC 107.2.1 / ORC 3791.04(E) (published, about 22 working days per review cycle, restarts on resubmittal); certificateOfOccupancy is an estimate

What slows projects here

• Data centers are allowed by right where the district permits them, subject to use-specific standards, so the risk sits in the standards and the site plan, not a hearing.
• Data centers are a permitted use in the GE General Employment district (C.O. 1153.02, 'General Office Activities & Data Centers': P in GE, C in LI), in the TMD Technology Manufacturing District (1154.05 makes LI permitted and conditional uses permitted), in the OCD Office Campus District (1144.02(g)) and in the PUD / I-PUD zoning texts that list them (e.g., Souder East Research and Information District). The recurring approval on an already-zoned business-park site is the Planning Commission final development plan (Chapter 1159; criteria 1159.08(a)-(s)) or the administrative TMD Planning and Design Permit (1154.10), plus a certificate of appropriateness (Chapter 1157; data center buildings are exempt from the Design Guidelines and Requirements per 1154.13(b)(2) and recent zoning texts, and are reviewed against the text's architectural standards instead). The city states it is no longer approving annexation or zoning requests for data center development and that every rezoning approved since April 2025 excludes data centers as a primary use (ancillary use only, with square-footage limits). A site that needs a rezoning should be treated as unavailable for a primary data center use until the city confirms otherwise in writing.
• Notice rules are a veto point: Rezoning: published notice at least seven days before the Commission hearing, first-class mail to affected and neighboring owners at least ten days before, one sign per public street frontage installed at least ten days before; Council hearing published at least seven days before (1111.07). ORC 713.12 separately requires at least thirty days' newspaper notice of the Council hearing on a zoning amendment (and twenty days' first-class mail to owners within, contiguous to and across the street when ten or fewer parcels are rezoned); the charter may modify the statute, so counsel reconciles the two before each hearing. Final development plans: first-class mail to neighboring owners at least ten days before the meeting. Variances: published seven days and mailed ten days before the BZA hearing. ARB applications for Village Center major changes must be filed at least thirty days before the Board meeting. ORC 713.121 allows a procedural challenge to a zoning ordinance within two years of adoption. (C.O. 1111.05 / 1111.07 (rezonings), 1113.05 (variances), 1159.09(f) / 1159.10(d) (final development plans), 1157.08(b)(1) (ARB filing); ORC 713.12 (council zoning amendments)). A defective notice can void an approval after the fact.
• A data center applicant's final development plan FDP-96-2025 (Planning Commission Dec 15, 2025): 330,000 sq ft two-story building on 16.81 acres in the Souder East Research and Information I-PUD subareas 2 and 3; height variance 45 to 55 ft granted Oct 20, 2025 per the staff report (VAR-72-2025; the application form says 10/23/2025) with off-site screening conditions; four FDP conditions (street trees, four-rail fence, signage, lighting); city engineer had no comments.
• U.S. 62 Business Zoning District ZC-94-2025 (Dec 2025): 101.1-acre annexation rezoned to L-GE with a text that extends business-park standards; data center, warehouse and distribution buildings are not subject to the Design Guidelines and Requirements and go to a Design Review Committee the text describes as 'contemplated in' 1157.08(a)(1)(D) (in the code mirror that subsection is the elevation-drawing submittal item; verify the committee's basis in Municode); engineer conditions included a traffic impact study, floodplain study for the blue-line stream, tree survey and a Rocky Fork-Blacklick Accord rural buffer.
• City policy (datacenters.newalbanyohio.org): no further annexation or zoning requests for data center development; all rezonings approved since April 2025 exclude data centers as a primary use.

What to do about it

• Run the utility large-load study, the state air permit and the land-use approval in parallel from day one; they are separate authorities and nothing requires them in sequence.
• Lock the generator count, size, tier and classification before filing: a density change reopens the air permit, the noise study and the utility load letter together.
• Treat every statutory notice as a checklist with evidence (advertisement text and dates, mailing receipts, posted signs) reviewed by counsel against the statute in force on the hearing date.
• Carry the 30-day appeal window after the approval on the schedule; lenders and tenants will not close across it.
• File complete so the 30-day review clock starts; most delay in review is correction cycles, not review time.

Sources

• City of New Albany Codified Ordinances, Part Eleven Planning and Zoning Code (Zoneomics mirror; Titles One, Three, Five, Seven) — accessed 2026-10-31
• New Albany Planning Commission meeting packet, December 15, 2025 (FDP-96-2025, ZC-94-2025, ZC-78-2025) — accessed 2026-10-31
• City of New Albany, Permitting & Inspections — accessed 2026-10-31
• City of New Albany, Planning Commission page (meeting schedule) — accessed 2026-10-31
• City of New Albany, Architectural Review Board page — accessed 2026-10-31
• City of New Albany data center information site: resident questions — accessed 2026-10-31
• City of New Albany data center information site: home — accessed 2026-10-31
• City of New Albany, Fire Departments — accessed 2026-10-31
• Plain Township Fire Department, Fire Prevention — accessed 2026-10-31
• New Albany local incentives (New Albany Company / city economic development) — accessed 2026-10-31
• Jersey Township / City of New Albany Cooperative Economic Development Agreement and JEDD contract (public hearing version 10-15-24) — accessed 2026-10-31
• RITA member page, Jersey-New Albany JEDD II — accessed 2026-10-31

Timelines are general information drawn from the sources listed, not advice on a specific project. Rules change; confirm current requirements with the authority.