Commission reviews Oakwood Ranch packet, flags water limits for energy and data center uses

Staff presented an update on the Oakwood Ranch packet and said they are refining permitted uses before finalizing the code. The staff member said the team expects to include "a natural gas facility" among energy uses and pledged to add more detail so the rules are not overly general. "We do believe there'll be a natural gas facility that's part of what we'll do in this pack and this will we'll add a lot of detail around that so it's not so general," the staff member said.

Commissioners raised multiple constraints tied to water availability and residential standards. One commissioner warned that a one-acre residential lot with high animal counts could become "a miniature feedlot" and asked staff to "sharpen your pencil" on the per-acre animal limits. Commissioners also asked whether data centers would be restricted to closed-loop cooling; staff and commissioners agreed they should require air-cooled/closed-loop systems to avoid excessive water use. Staff committed to provide specific water-right numbers to the commission for review before further action.