The City of Irvine has no data-center ordinance and no "data center" use category. Data centers locate in the IBC Industrial (5.2) and General Industrial (5.4) districts as office, research-and-development, service-industry, or light-manufacturing uses - permitted by right, no conditional use permit.
Irvine's Zoning Ordinance regulates land by Planning Area. It does not name "data center" as a use, though it lists "computer centers" as a permitted office use in the 4.5 Regional Commercial category (Sec. 3-37-23). A data center is classified into the closest existing use. In the IBC Industrial district (Sec. 3-37-31) and General Industrial district (Sec. 3-37-33), "office," "research and development," "industry, service," and "light manufacturing" are permitted by right, so a server building fitting one of those needs only a ministerial building permit. A use fitting no listed category takes the discretionary "any other use the Planning Commission finds consistent" path, triggering CEQA review. The City has adopted no moratorium.
Building or operating a data center in a district that does not permit its use classification, or without discretionary approval when no listed use fits, is a Zoning Ordinance violation enforced by Community Development through stop-work orders and abatement.
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See how other cities in Orange County handle data center zoning & siting.
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