Commissioners add 'noise authority' for data centers to 90th legislative agenda

Commissioner Hale proposed adding a noise-authority resolution to Collin County’s 90th legislative agenda to address complaints about data-center noise in unincorporated areas. Hale told the court there are "situations where there's actually data centers that are actually in the county that are emitting noise at high levels" and that the county currently has limited remedies when noise crosses municipal borders.

Hale cited the state penal-code threshold and gave an example of continuous operations: "even having a data center across the street doing 65, 70 decibels, 24 a day, 7 days a week, is a lot," he said, arguing counties should be able to seek similar noise-control authority as cities. Other commissioners raised enforcement concerns; one noted staffing shortages in law enforcement and warned that putting ordinances on the books without enforcement capacity could be ineffective.

The court voted to add the noise-authority item to the legislative agenda (motion carries 5–0). Afterward a commissioner asked staff to prepare zoning language to keep data centers away from residential areas to ease enforcement and reduce community impacts.