Site Selection, Permitting and Municipal Approvals

What you'll learn

• Evaluate candidate data center sites for power capacity and timing, fiber and latency, water, hazards, land and regulatory climate using staged screening and weighted scoring
• Analyze data center markets, workload latency needs and the site search process, and test site rankings for robustness
• Navigate comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, rezonings, special exceptions, variances and site plan approval, and assess noise and other entitlement issues
• Structure land agreements and plan due diligence on title, environmental condition, geotechnics, natural heritage, archaeology and utilities, and estimate site yield
• Identify when NEPA or state environmental review applies and obtain Clean Air Act, water, stormwater, species, historic resource and tribal consultation approvals
• Prepare and review noise, visual and traffic impact studies, and design mitigation that meets limits with margin
• Estimate water and wastewater demand, assess municipal servicing and fire flow, and size stormwater management facilities
• Plan building permits for data centers, including code analysis, occupancy classification, phased permits, alternative solutions, inspections and occupancy
• Identify the approvals for substations, transmission lines, fuel storage, gas supply, on-site generation and battery storage, and coordinate them on the critical path
• Negotiate impact fees, tax incentives, development agreements and community benefits with local and state governments
• Evaluate economic and fiscal impacts, incentives and effects on electricity customers using credible methods
• Build an approvals strategy with permit registers, probabilistic schedules, risk registers and decision gates, and recommend a site with fallbacks