Contra Costa County has no dedicated data-center ordinance. In the unincorporated county, a data center is treated as an industrial use, allowed in the L-I, H-I, C-M, or W-3 industrial districts under Title 8, with a land use permit and CEQA review. Most industrial land sits inside the 19 cities.
Contra Costa County regulates data centers only through general industrial zoning, not a data-center-specific chapter. Its Ordinance Code Title 8 has no data-center, server-farm, or computing-facility use class, so a large server building is classified as an industrial use. That places it in the L-I Light Industrial (Chapter 84-58), H-I Heavy Industrial (Chapter 84-62), C-M Controlled Manufacturing (Chapter 84-56), or W-3 Controlled Heavy Industrial (Chapter 84-60) districts. Many industrial uses require a land use permit under each district's use regulations, and discretionary approval triggers California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. This governs only unincorporated land; the county is largely incorporated, and the refinery corridor around Richmond, Martinez, and Antioch lies mostly inside cities that zone their own data centers.
Building a data center on land not zoned L-I, H-I, C-M, or W-3, or skipping a required land use permit or CEQA review, is a zoning violation. Contra Costa County can withhold permits, issue stop-work orders, and pursue code enforcement.
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