Mississauga approves temporary pause for large-scale data centre development

Today, City Council approved an Interim Control By-law (ICBL) that temporarily prohibits the development of major digital infrastructure facilities such as data centres for up to one year.

An ICBL is a provincial planning tool that allows a municipality to temporarily pause a specific type of development in a defined area for further study. This gives municipalities time to determine the best long-term planning approach before new development proceeds.

The ICBL approved today applies to applications for new major digital infrastructure facilities, including conversions or expansions of existing facilities, located across the City (as shown in this map). These large-scale facilities have computer systems, servers and related equipment that store or process digital information. Under the ICBL, facilities that have a total peak power demand of 10 megawatts or more will not be permitted for up to one year.

Guiding future development

During the temporary pause, the City is conducting a comprehensive policy review for major digital infrastructure facilities. The review will assess whether policies and regulations, such as the Official Plan and Zoning By-law, need to be updated. It will also consider any new guidance or requirements from the province’s Data Centre Playbook as they become available.

There will be opportunities for public engagement during the review. An interim report outlining the study scope and timeline will be presented to Council later this year. Updates will be posted on the City’s data centre policy review webpage.

Once the review is complete, City staff will bring recommendations to Council to help guide future planning policies and regulations for data centres and other major digital infrastructure projects.

Background

• A data centre is a facility that houses networked computers (servers), data storage drives and networking equipment that store and process digital information.  There are various types of data centres including artificial intelligence, hyperscale, enterprise, cloud computing and comparable uses.
• Data centres are currently classified as “Warehousing, Distribution and Wholesaling” under the Official Plan, and as “Warehouse/Distribution” or “Science and Technology Facilities” under the City’s Zoning By-law.
• There are several data centres already permitted and/or operating in the city of Mississauga.
• The City has received a rezoning application to permit a data centre in the Meadowvale Business Park.
• Staff provided an information report to General Committee about the province’s newly released Data Centre Playbook on September 9.

Tags

• By-laws and Policy
• Council and Committees
• Planning and Building