The Macon County Planning Board unanimously recommended adding cryptocurrency mining or similar server-based computer facilities to its high-impact land uses in order to prevent those operations from coming to Macon County and being a noise pollutant.
The vote during the roughly 20-minute April 6 meeting sends the ordinance recommendations to the Board of Commissioners for their vote.
The planning board previously discussed adding cryptocurrency mining to its list of high impact land uses at its March meeting, going over how the phrasing would look.
Crypto mining facilities are essentially dwellings with multiple computers that work continuously to mine the digital currency from internet data codes. The more crypto is mined, the harder it is to mine, resulting in more CPU power being needed. The issue is that the CPU power being used requires fans and cooling devices to keep the computers cool, thus creating a constant humming noise.
The facilities don’t require any employees and use a lot of energy, which is why crypto miners typically look to set up operations in rural communities with cheaper power rates and either no or fewer zoning regulations.
The actions in Macon County come after cryptocurrency mining locations sprung up in Cherokee County. At previous meetings Planning Director Joe Allen played an audio from near one of the cryptocurrency facilities in Cherokee County to present the loud volume of the operation.
Near the end of the discussion and vote, the Facebook server farm in Henderson County was mentioned as another noise pollutant, so the high impact land use line was changed to “cryptocurrency mining facilities or any other similar server-based computer facilities.”
The proposed ordinance change does not include the exchange of cryptocurrency or any other virtual currency, just the mining.
One potentially significant text change to the proposed amendment would add “residential use” to the separation requirements for any high impact land use ordinance. The current ordinance has the following protected uses under its separation clause: existing schools, child care homes, child care institutions, day care centers, hospitals, nursing care homes or nursing care institutions.
Each type of high impact land use has separation, setback and buffer requirements. Crypto mining would require a separation of 1,500 feet from the above protected uses, 150 feet from any stream, 750 feet from the property lines and a 100-foot buffer width. All of those distances equal the largest in the Macon County ordinances, being on par with asphalt plants, commercial incinerators and motor sports activities.
Another addition to the ordinance that would affect all high impact land use facilities is a requirement of “a sign, that is easy to see and locate, must be placed at the entrance to the property and that clearly states the name of the operator and a local phone number for the operator in case of emergency.”
A crypto mining specific requirement is that no cargo containers, railroad cars, semi-truck trailers or other similar storage containers can be used for any component of the operation.
A part of the already-existing ordinance that the planning board feels will dissuade any crypto mining facilities from coming to Macon County is the requirement that any high impact land use operation must shut down between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. According to Allen, crypto operations typically run 24 hours a day.
Allen said the crypto and computer server-based facilities recommendations wouldn’t make it onto the April 11 Board of Commissioners agenda, but would likely be on the May 9 agenda.
In the only other action from the April 6 meeting, the planning board gave their approval to move future meetings to the A/V room at the Macon County Public Health Department. The planning board has been meeting in the Macon County Environmental Resource Center. Allen requested the change to have better access to A/V equipment for presentations and internet connectivity. The Macon County Board of Health currently holds its monthly meeting in the A/V room.
The planning board meetings are held the first Thursday of the month at 5 p.m. The next scheduled planning board meeting is Thursday, May 4, although Allen said it’s possible the meeting could be cancelled for lack of actionable items.