Meeting Summary

The Legislative Committee held a public hearing on a proposed ordinance (2026-0089) that would establish the parish's first formal zoning rules for data centers, including buffer distances, noise limits, and landscaping and screening requirements. Parish President Matthew Jewell and Director Michael Albert presented the ordinance, several residents spoke both in support and with concerns, and council members debated whether the rules were thorough enough before any vote on final adoption. The committee ultimately closed the discussion without taking a substantive vote on the ordinance itself, only voting to adjourn the meeting.

Watch Items

• The data center ordinance (2026-0089) is still being refined. Council member Walter Pilié argued the parish should pause, bring in outside experts on acoustics and power systems, and study low-frequency noise impacts more closely before finalizing the rules, comparing the process to the earlier solar ordinance that was later tightened after initial passage.
• Michelle O'Daniels raised unresolved questions about how "data center" is defined, where exactly noise would be measured from, whether an acoustical analysis requirement should be added, and which parish department would be responsible for enforcing violations.
• A resident, Joseph Coco, urged the council to add specific language distinguishing high-performance/AI computing facilities from general-purpose data centers, arguing the current draft could let large AI facilities qualify for lighter M1 zoning if they rely on grid power rather than on-site generation.
• Questions remain about how backup and emergency generator use would be regulated in practice, particularly during extended outages, and whether existing 300-foot and 2,000-foot buffers adequately address low-frequency noise that can travel farther than typical sound measurements capture.
• Holly Fonseca and Matthew Jewell both indicated the ordinance, even if adopted, would likely be revisited and adjusted over time, similar to how the parish's solar ordinance was amended after its initial passage.
• Residents also asked about penalties for violations and whether fines would be strong enough to deter noncompliance; parish officials pointed to existing code enforcement tools but did not detail specific penalty provisions in the ordinance.