What changed in Hillsboro’s data center code between three drafts
The Phase I amendment went from a work session concept to a public hearing draft to a Commission recommendation in four weeks. Set side by side, the drafts move in both directions. One five-word change to a single exception decides whether the acreage caps reach server halls inside other buildings.
The claim
No claim is being graded. This finding tracks changes between three published versions of the same amendment.
The record
Three documents published by the City of Hillsboro and retrieved from its meeting portal on September 14, 2026: the August 12 work-session presentation, August 26 hearing draft, and September 9 recommendation package.
The finding
Between the August 26 hearing draft and the September 9 recommendation, the exception at CDC 12.10.370.D.1 changed from placing server rooms inside the Data Storage use category as an accessory use to placing them outside the category entirely.
The exception
August 26: such uses “are defined by their primary use, to which Data Storage is accessory.” September 9: such uses “are defined by their primary use, not as Data Storage.”
Proximity restrictions
The August 26 hearing draft contained no proximity restriction. The recommended order carries 1,000 feet, measured between the closest points of affected property lines.
Accessory limits
August 26: 30 percent of gross site acreage. September 9: 25 percent of gross acreage or 30 percent of gross floor area, whichever is less. On a 40-acre site the acreage path yields 435,600 square feet.
Generation and storage
The recommendation narrows generator language to intermittent backup during loss of power and defines accessory battery storage broadly enough to include export, demand response and grid services.
Review procedure
Development Review becomes a Type III procedure and now reaches conversions of existing buildings previously in another primary use.
Unresolved in the record
Exhibit A to the recommended order sets accessory energy storage at 30 percent of gross acreage with exemptions and no acre ceiling. Exhibit D states 30 percent or 6 gross acres total. Staff Report No. 4 says the 6-acre cap was removed. The two exhibits do not reconcile as of September 14, 2026.
What this does not establish
- The order is a recommendation, not an adopted ordinance.
- Whether a given project falls inside or outside an exception is an application question for the City.
- No inference is drawn about why any provision changed.
Status
The published September 15 agenda does not include this case file. Staff Report No. 5 states first reading is October 6, 2026.
Funding
Self-funded. No party commissioned, reviewed, or was shown this finding before publication.