HomeMy WebLinkAboutDecisionA..r
Ash,
WPlanning & Development
September 8, 2026
c/o Bill Kloos
Law Office of Bill Kloos, PC
Oregon Land Use Law
375 W 4th Avenue, Suite 204
Eugene, OR 97401
Subject: Zone Verification Decision: Former Hyundai/Hynix Semiconductor Campus, 1830 Willow
Creek Circle — City File #ZVR 26-0050
Location: 1830 Willow Creek Circle, Eugene OR 97402
Assessor's Map: 18-04-04-20 / Tax Lots: 400, 500, 1200, 1300, 1400
Dear Bill,
On July 14, 2026, you submitted a zone verification application accompanied by a letter. You explain in
that letter that your client wishes to purchase property at 1830 Willow Creek Circle in Eugene to
"redevelop, reuse, and market" the property for particular future uses. Before your client does so, it is
asking the City to verify whether a data center, as described in the application materials, would be
permitted on the subject property.
On August 6, 2026, the City emailed you a letter requesting that you provide supplemental
information. On August 14, you provided a letter responding to the City's request for additional
information. The August letter explains that the original (July) application materials "identified Data
Centers, Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing, Research and Development, Warehousing, and
Office Uses" but that the only land use for which you are requesting zone verification is the data center
use.
This letter constitutes the City's zone verification decision, responding to the application materials
dated July 14, 2026, as clarified by the supplemental application materials dated August 14, 2026. For
all the reasons discussed in this zone verification decision the data center use described in the zone
verification application is prohibited in the E-1 zone.
City of Eugene • 99 W. 1 Oth Ave. . Eugene, OR 97401 • www.eugene-or.gov
541-682-5086 • 541-682-5 593 Fax
(00567651;3) Page 1 of 9
Background
The City's process for issuing zone verification decisions is set out entirely in EC 9.1080 which provides:
Zone verification is used by the city to evaluate whether a proposed building or land use
activity would be a permitted use or be subject to land use application approval or
special standards applicable to the category of use and the zone of the subject property.
The city may use zone verification as part of the review for a land use application or
development permit, or where required by this land use code. As part of the zone
verification, the planning and development director shall determine whether uses not
specifically identified on the allowed use list for that zone are permitted, permitted
subject to an approved conditional use permit or other land use permit, or prohibited,
or whether a land use review is required due to the characteristics of the development
site or the proposed site. This determination shall be based on the requirements
applicable to the zone, applicable standards, and on the operating characteristics of the
proposed use, building bulk and size, parking demand, and traffic generation.
The application materials ask the City to both confirm the zoning and overlays that apply to the subject
property and to make a determination as to whether the data center use described in the application
would be permitted in the E-1 zone. More specifically, they ask the City to confirm that the data center
would be classified as a permitted "Information Technology Services" use in the E-1 zone. The first
part of this request is not within the scope of the zone verification process at EC 9.1080. Zone
boundaries and overlay zone boundaries are depicted on the Eugene Zoning Map and Eugene Overlay
Zone Map (EC 9.1050). If there is uncertainty as to whether a zone or overlay zone applies to a
property, EC 9.1070 sets out a series of "rules" to be applied by the planning director. The application
materials for this zone verification decision do not refer to EC 9.1070 or its rules; instead, the
application materials repeatedly state with seeming certainty that the subject property is in the City's
E-1 Campus Employment zone and the City is not aware of any uncertainty that calls this conclusion
into question.'
1 The application materials also explicitly recognize that the property is included in overlay zones. Overlay zones may
impose additional restrictions and requirements, but the application is clearly limited to a request that the City consider
whether the use described is a "permitted uses in the E-1 zone" and does not seek any specific determinations regarding
the overlay zones that apply to the property. Therefore, the /CAS Commercial Airport Safety overly zone, the /WB Wetland
Buffer overlay zone, and the /WP Waterside Protection overlay zones which apply to all or portions of the property are not
discussed in this decision beyond this general footnote. The /CAS overlay zone does not directly prohibit the land uses (it
regulates the height of structures, imposes marking and lighting requirements, prohibits electrical interference, and
prohibits uses that in any way endanger or interfere with aircraft use of the nearby airport). The /WB and /WP overlay
zones create protection areas around certain wetlands, waterways and other water features which may be located on the
subject property. Outside of those protection areas, the uses permitted in these overlay zones are the same as the uses
permitted in the applicable base zone.
Page 2 of 9
The City's E-1 Campus Employment Base Zone is one of two "employment" zones in the City of Eugene,
distinct from the City's industrial and commercial zones. EC 9.2400 states:
The purpose of the E-1 Campus Employment zone is to implement the Campus
Industrial designation of the comprehensive plan by providing large areas for a variety
of light industrial and office -based scientific, medical, research and development, or
other professional firms to locate in a campus -like setting. In general, this zone is
designed for firms that will help achieve economic diversification objectives and that
typically have a large number of employees per acre. The activities of such firms do not
generate offensive external impacts and usually do not tolerate substantial noise,
pollution, or vibration from surrounding uses. The "campus" setting is characterized by
enhanced landscaping, pedestrian amenities, and unique architectural design. Provision
is also made for small-scale complementary commercial uses that primarily serve
employees in the area and are preferably part of a mixed -use development.2
Analysis
E-1 Campus Employment Base Zone Land Use and Permit Requirements
EC 9.2450 sets out the "Land Use and Permit Requirements" for the E-1 zone, including a table listing
the land uses that are permitted in the zone. For a land use to be clearly allowed in the E-1 zone, it
would need to be explicitly listed on this table as either "P" (permitted), "C" (subject to a conditional
use permit or planned unit development approval), or "S" (permitted subject to specific standards for
development) in the E-1 zone. "Data center" is not a land use that is listed in Table 9.2450.
The application materials assert that a data center should be a permitted use because it falls within the
"Information and Technology Services" land use category, under which Table 9.2450 includes the
following land uses as permitted in the E-1 zone:
Computer Networking (includes services and technical support center)
E-commerce (includes call centers, online sales & shipping, and business -to -business services)
Internet and Web Site (includes services and technical support center)
Software Development (includes services and technical support center)
The application materials explain that "[a] modern data center is the physical infrastructure through
which [the four above listed] information -technology services are delivered." However, the fact that
the land uses explicitly allowed by the City would likely rely on a data center (somewhere) for their
2 EC 9.0050 states that the "purpose" sections in the Eugene code "are intended in most instances to provide general
explanatory information concerning subsequent code sections" but that such "purpose" sections "shall not constitute
approval criteria or be used to interpret such criteria unless the sections are specifically referenced for that purpose in
another section of this land use code." This decision concerns only the uses allowed in the E-1 zone. It does not apply any
approval criteria or interpret approval criteria.
Page 3 of 9
day-to-day operations does not make those permitted uses similar to a data center from a land use
perspective. In fact, there is hardly a land use today that does not rely on a data center somewhere in
the world for its day-to-day operations. This type of relationship between land uses is not useful for
purposes of determining whether data centers are permitted in the E-1 zone.
To determine whether a data center is allowed as an "Information and Technology Service" in the E-1
zone, it is useful to consider the types of uses that were reasonably understood to fall within that
category of land uses at the time that term was added to the list of allowed uses. It is also helpful to
consider types of uses the City Council has explicitly listed as falling within the "Information and
Technology Services" category.
The "Information and Technology Services" land use category was added to the list of allowed uses in
the City's land use code in 2001, through Council adoption of Ordinance No. 20224. Modern data
centers of the type and size described in the application materials did not exist in 2001. In the 1990s
and early 2000s, businesses generally handled their own IT needs in-house, setting up server rooms
located within their offices. "These rooms were often little more than converted closets, outfitted with
racks of servers, simple cooling systems, and basic security measures.113 Ultimately, however, advances
in technology, including cloud computing and increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) programs,
created pressures that on -premises servers could not handle.4
Companies began turning to purpose-built data centers, massive facilities engineered
from the ground up to house IT infrastructure at scale.
These new centers were located near major fiber routes and reliable power grids, often
sprawling across hundreds of thousands of square feet. They incorporated redundant
power systems, advanced fire suppression, sophisticated cooling technology and strict
physical security measures.'
Back in 2001, the City Council could not have intended the "Information Technology Services" use
category to encompass the type of large modern data centers described in the zone verification
application. In 2001, there was no need for large modern data centers to support cloud computing or
Al because cloud computing did not exist in 2001. Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the first to launch
3 History of Data Centers: From 1950s Server Rooms to AI -Driven Powerhouses I TRG Datacenters available at
https://www.trgdatacenters.com/resource/history-of-data-centers/
° History of Data Centers: From 1950s Server Rooms to AI -Driven Powerhouses I TRG Datacenters available at
https://www.trgdatacenters.com/resource/history-of-data-centers/
5 History of Data Centers: From 1950s Server Rooms to AI -Driven Powerhouses I TRG Datacenters, available at
https://www.trgdatacenters.com/resource/history-of-data-centers/
Page 4 of 9
cloud computing functions (Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
(EC2)) in 2006.E Microsoft launched its cloud computing service, Windows Azure, in 2010.'
In 2014, the City Council could have made the type of large modern data centers described in the
application materials as permitted uses under the "Information Technology Services" use category, but
it did not do so. In 2014, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 20528 as part of its efforts to meet
the City's need for employment opportunities, and in so doing, restyled the former C-4
Commercial/Industrial Zone and the former 1-1 Light Industrial zones, creating the E-1 Campus
Employment zone. When adopting Ordinance No. 20528, the Council made substantial changes to the
uses it allows within its commercial, employment, and industrial zones. As part of the ordinance
adoption, the City Council took the opportunity to reconsider the uses it allows under the "Information
Technology Services" category. For example, it made the choice to remove "Healthcare Informatics" as
a permitted land use in all of the employment and industrial zones, allowing it as an "Information
Technology Service" only in commercial zones. The 2014 ordinance also updated the examples
provided as "E-Commerce" land uses. By 2014, cloud computing was widely available and modern
data centers were developed in Oregon.$ However, the City Council did not add data centers as
allowed uses in any of its zones, including the E-1 zone.
It is also helpful to consider the types of uses the City Council has explicitly listed as falling within the
"Information and Technology Services" category, as a means of determining whether the proposed
data center use is of a comparable nature in terms of applicable development standards, operating
characteristics, building bulk and size, parking demand and traffic generation. This analysis is addressed
below.
E-1 Campus Employment Zone Development Standards
The zone -specific development standards for the E-1 zone are set out in EC 9.2460, 9.2461, and 9.2463.
The general development standards for all development are set out in the EC 9.6000s. The
development standards specifically applicable in the E-1 zone generally address things like building
height, setbacks, landscaping, on -site pedestrian circulation, outdoor storage and merchandise display,
and parking. The application materials assert that the data center use could be developed in such a
way that it would comply with all applicable development standards but the application provides no
information about the aspects of the data center use that would be regulated through these
development standards. Therefore, the City cannot provide substantive consideration of the proposed
data center use in terms of the applicable development standards. However, the data center use is
determined to be prohibited in the E-1 zone based on other considerations.
6 Amazon -Web -Services -Launches - US Press Center, available at https://press.aboutamazon.com/2006/3/amazon-web
services -launches; Our Origins, available at https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/our-origins/; How three startups helped
Amazon invent cloud computing and paved the way for Al, available at https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/the-
earliest-aws-customers-who-helped-build-the-cloud; History of the cloud I BCS, available at https://www.bcs.org/articles-
o p i n i o n-a n d-res ea rc h/h i sto ry-of-t h e-c l o u d
' Microsoft launches Windows Azure - CNET, available at https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/microsoft-launches-
windows-azure/
s Google built a data center in The Dalles, Oregon in 2006. The Dalles, Oregon — Google Data Center Location, available at
https:Hdatacenters.google/locations/oregon/
Page 5 of 9
Operating Characteristics of the Proposed Data Center
The application materials describe the proposed data center use as:
[A] facility used primarily for the operation of computer servers, network equipment,
data storage systems, telecommunications/fiber infrastructure, cloud computing
infrastructure, artificial -intelligence or high-performance computing infrastructure, and
related information -technology systems used to store, process, manage, transmit,
exchange, and secure digital information.
They also describe it as:
[A] limited -access, non -retail information -technology use involving computer servers,
network systems, data -storage systems, telecommunications and fiber infrastructure,
cloud -computing systems, and related platforms that process, store, manage, transmit,
exchange, and secure digital information, whether those systems are deployed within
conventional buildings or in modular pod -based configurations.
The application materials specify that the requested zone verification:
[I]s intended to encompass both:
• an enterprise or single -user data center supporting the operations of one organization;
and
• a coloration, cloud, managed -services, or similar data center supporting multiple
organizations or customers.
As explained above, Table 9.2450 lists the following land uses as the permitted "Information and
Technology Services" in the E-1 zone:
- Computer Networking (includes services and technical support center)
- E-commerce (includes call centers, online sales & shipping, and business -to -business services)
- Internet and Web Site (includes services and technical support center)
- Software Development (includes services and technical support center)
The application materials explain that a data center's core function is to "operate" servers, systems,
infrastructure, and platforms for technology users and assert that this is "closely aligned" with the uses
allowed as "Information Technology Services" in the E-1 Campus Employment zone. However, the
mere fact that the listed land uses are in the technology sector does not make them "closely aligned"
with a data center for purposes of the way in which they use land.
The uses listed in Table 9.2450 are employment centers, where employees develop products, make
and/or take phone calls, provide customer services and technical support, perhaps with sales and
shipping. This is consistent with the prescribed purpose of the E-1 zone which refers to professional
"firms" that "typically have a large number of employees per acre." Whereas, the described data
Page 6 of 9
center seems to be almost self-operating, with little human presence or interaction on the site. The
application materials explain that, the "defining characteristic of Data Centers is the provision of
information -technology services through computer, network, storage, internet, cloud, and
telecommunications systems," not through employees utilizing the campus -like setting as intended for
the E-1 zone. The application narrative addressing parking and traffic impacts indicates that the
proposed use does not require many day-to-day employees on site. Large modern data centers
generally do not require many on -site employees.9 In this way, which is clearly important considering
the purposes of the E-1 zone, the data center use is not comparably similar to the explicitly -allowed
uses in the E-1 zone.
EC 9.2400 also describes the E-1 zone as being designed for uses that do not generate offensive
external impacts. Large modern data centers generate external impacts that may be offensive to other
nearby uses. The uses explicitly listed as allowed uses in the E-1 zone would have very little external
impact. Data centers, on the other hand, notoriously have external impacts. The application explains
that the infrastructure would include an "uninterruptable power supply systems and battery systems",
emergency backup power systems, which may include generators," and mechanical and cooling
equipment." This description is difficult to evaluate. Data centers typically use diesel generators as
back-up power sources for emergencies and/or in order to avoid overloading the electrical grid.10
Diesel generators can create noise impacts11 and diesel exhaust can lead to serious health conditions
like asthma and respiratory illnesses.12 Data centers also typically use water to avoid overheating,
though the application materials also reference air cooling. The water use associated with data centers
has been linked to water temperature increases as well as excess sediment, nitrates and per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).13 These external impacts are much greater than those likely
produced by the types of uses the City Council has listed as "Information Technology Services" on Table
9.2450. It is also inconsistent with the explicit purposes of the E-1 zone which describes uses that "do
not generate offensive external impacts...."
9 Data centers bring money to small towns. But do they also bring jobs? : NPR, available at
https://www. n pr.org/2025/04/10/nx-s 1-5355017/data-centers-bri ng-money-to-s ma I I -towns -but -do -they -also -bring -jobs
"The data center boom is a diesel generator boom — Prometheus Institute available at
https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-data-center-boom-is-a-diesel-generator-boom/
11 Communities Are Raising Noise Pollution Concerns about Data Centers, available at
https://www. eesi. org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-noise-pollution-concernsabout-data-centers
12 US EPA: Learn About Impacts of Diesel Exhaust and the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, available at
https://www. epa. gov/dera/learn-about-impacts-diesel-exhaust-and-diesel-emissions-reduction-act
13 Katherine Kim, Data Center Cooling Water Discharge: Assessing Environmental Transparency and Information Gaps, 32
Hastings Envt'I L.J. 177 (2026), available at
https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings environmental law journal/vol32/iss2/4• University of Georgia Extension:
Understanding How Data Centers Impact Surface and Ground Waters, available at
https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/TP121/how-data-centers-impact-surface-and-ground-waters/
Page 7 of 9
Bulk and Size of the Proposed Data Center
The application materials state that the building bulk and size is not relevant to the question of
whether a data center use is permitted in the E-1 zone. In fact, building bulk and size is an explicitly
called out in EC 9.1080 as a consideration for the Planning and Development Director. The application
materials assert that the data center use:
[C]ould be implemented in phases and may involve:
• reuse of all or a portion of the existing approximately 1.2 million -square -foot
facility[...]
• construction of one or more additional buildings on portions of the Property; or
• a combination of existing building reuse and new construction.
This information is not enough to support conclusive findings with regard to whether the bulk and
scale of the proposed use fits within the E-1 zone.
Parking and Traffic Generation
The application materials also assert that parking demand and traffic generation are not relevant to
the question of whether a data center use is permitted in the E-1 zone and assert that the applicant
cannot provide specific parking or traffic generation estimates. However, the application materials do
note the following:
Because Data Centers are not retail or customer -facing uses and generally have limited
routine visitor activity, their parking and traffic characteristics differ materially from
retail and other uses characterized by regular customer or visitor trips. Routine activity
would principally consist of on -site personnel working in shifts, periodic equipment and
maintenance deliveries, vendor visits, security activities, and ordinary facility services.
As noted above, the E-1 zone is intended for use by employment centers that have a large number of
employees per acre. This is consistent with the types of land uses that are included on the City's Table
9.2450. While this consideration of parking and traffic generation is generally intended to ensure that
the City does not allow a land use that has more intense traffic impacts than intended for a zone, it is
equally as relevant to a land use that takes up an immense amount of employment land with
extremely little employee traffic.
This consideration supports a determination that the data center use described in the application
materials is inconsistent with the E-1 zone.
Page 8 of 9
Conclusion
Consideration of the land use and permit requirements of the E-1 zone, the applicable development
standards, the operating characteristics of a data center, the proposed building bulk and size, parking
demand, and traffic generation support the determination that the Eugene Code does not permit the
type of large modern data centers described in the application materials under the "Information
Technology Services" use category for the E-1 zone. For all the reasons articulated above, the data
center use described in the zone verification application is prohibited in the E-1 zone.
This zone verification decision will be provided to the applicant. The decision will also be documented
within the City's permit tracking system, a registry available to the public, in accordance with statutory
requirements at ORS 227.175(11). This zone verification decision may be appealed to the Land Use
Board of Appeals in accordance with statutory provisions beginning at ORS 197.830.
Sincerely,
Alissa Hunter
Planning and Development Director
Page 9 of 9