Iron County, UT Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

Chapter 17.37, adopted by Ordinance No. 2025-5, governs where data centers and data center power plants can locate in unincorporated Iron County. Section 17.37.030(A) makes a compliant facility permitted only where the Table of Uses in Section 17.16.030 allows it. Subsection (B)(1) sets minimum lot sizes: twenty acres for a data center power plant and five acres for a data center itself. Subsection (B)(2) allows structure height up to thirty-five feet as of right, with anything taller requiring a conditional use permit that sets the height limit case by case.

Subsection (B)(3) requires setbacks of at least sixty feet from all property lines and public road rights-of-way, or one and one-quarter times the structure's height, whichever produces the larger setback, plus a minimum one hundred foot separation from any residentially zoned lot or existing residence; the planning commission can require additional setback beyond that floor to address noise or glare. Facilities also need a security or livestock fence around the perimeter with Knox boxes for emergency access under subsection (B)(4), defensible space compliant with the county's Wildland-Urban Interface Code under (B)(8), and a conditional use permit application addressing siting factors in Section 17.37.050, including avoidance of wilderness study areas, scenic corridors and erodible slopes. A data center power plant also needs permits from the Utah Division of Air Quality and Utah Division of Water Quality under subsection (C).