Sierra County's zoning code names data centers directly: a "data processing center" is allowed in the IN industrial district (SCC 15.12.150) with a special use permit, a discretionary hearing, and CEQA review. Only a short list of specific parcels carries IN zoning countywide.
Sierra County Code Section 15.12.150 lists "data processing centers" among the business-park uses allowed in the IN industrial district, each requiring a special use permit - a discretionary approval decided at a Planning Commission public hearing and subject to CEQA. IN standards apply: two-acre minimum lot, 40-foot height cap, 75 percent maximum coverage, 60-foot yards, and 25 percent landscaped open space, with outdoor lighting limited to directional security fixtures. The code fixes IN zoning to a specific list of parcels, so almost no land qualifies; a data center elsewhere would first need rezoning. Title 15 governs unincorporated land only - Loyalton, the county's one city, sets its own zoning.
Building a data center without a special use permit, or on land not zoned IN, is a zoning violation. The county can withhold building permits, issue stop-work orders, and pursue code enforcement until the site is rezoned or permitted.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Sierra County's data center zoning & siting rules stack up against other locations.
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