Salem, OR Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

Salem's UDC Sec. 110(e) defines data center facilities as sites that physically house computer systems and associated equipment dedicated to data storage or transmission, serving users beyond those present on site, and lists carrier hotels, co-location facilities, data farms, data warehouses and server farms as examples. Where a project can actually be sited depends on the zone-by-zone use tables in UDC Division 500. Table 551-1 (Sec. 005) permits data center facilities outright (P) in the Industrial Commercial (IC) zone, and Table 553-1 (Sec. 005) does the same in the Industrial Park (IP) zone, with no extra building condition attached.

Table 552-1 (Sec. 005) also lists the use as permitted in the Industrial Business Campus (IBC) zone, but only 'provided they are conducted within an enclosed building,' so any outdoor cooling equipment or generator bank tied to the facility must still fit inside that enclosed-building test. Table 554-1 (Sec. 005) prohibits (N) data center facilities entirely in the General Industrial (IG) zone, the one heavy-industrial zone where the use is not allowed at all. In the Fairview Mixed-Use (FMU) zone, Table 530-1 (Sec. 040) permits data centers only in the Auxiliary Use (AU) sub-area, marking them prohibited (N) in the LI, MI, and VC sub-areas of that same zone.

Data centers are not listed as an allowed use in any residential, agricultural, or standard commercial zone table, so a developer needs a site already zoned IC, IP, IBC, or the FMU AU sub-area, or must pursue a zone change or UDC text amendment through the Planning Administrator before applying for a building permit. Individual server racks that only support an on-site business, rather than serving outside customers, are exempt as accessory to that business's primary use.