Big Boxes by the River: Data Center Design and Siting in Reno

by Crystal Bauer

Oct 11, 2026

"A data center is not a warehouse"

The sharpest fight over data center design in Reno isn't about how they look. It's about what the city's code says they are. For most of 2024, Reno treated data centers like warehouses, and that decision shaped where they could go and how much the public got to say.

"A data center is not a warehouse," Olivia Tanager of the Sierra Club told reporters in January 2025, when her group appealed Reno's first data center approval.

This is part four of our series on data centers in the Truckee Meadows [links to parts one through three]. This time: how buildings get approved, where they're allowed, and the design details neighbors are arguing over.

Where the two sides disagree

Residents want data-center-specific rules decided up front. Developers and the city have relied on case-by-case permits with conditions attached.

Issue	What the public says	What developers and the city say
How they're classified	Data centers run 24/7 and use far more power than warehouses, so they need their own rules.	Early 2024 rules treated them like warehouses, with fewer parking spaces. A January 2025 code update created a separate data center category.
How they're approved	Case-by-case approvals are "piecemeal," as one planning commissioner put it.	Every data center needs a conditional use permit, which lets the city ask whether a project will be loud, add traffic, or have bright lights.
Where they can go	Not next to neighborhoods, schools, or the Truckee River.	Keystone is zoned industrial and commercial and isn't next to residential zoning. The Webb project in the North Valleys sits next to an Amazon warehouse.
Rooftop equipment	Big rooftop chillers bring noise and change what the skyline looks like.	Keystone has to surround its rooftop chillers with a 15-foot sound-absorbing barrier.
Changes after approval	Designs changed after the public hearing, with no new notice.	Staff uses about a 10% threshold. Bigger changes need a new public hearing; smaller ones are handled in building permit review.
Who gets notified	A 750-foot mailing radius is too small for a facility with regional impacts.	Notice follows city code: postcards within 750 feet and a sign on the site.

Reno's three approved data centers

Reno has approved three data centers so far. Each one turned into a different design argument.

1. Webb Data Center, North Valleys. This is an 82,000-square-foot building on about 6 acres next to an Amazon distribution center, on land zoned Mixed-Use Suburban. The Planning Commission approved it 4-2 in December 2024. The Sierra Club appealed, arguing the warehouse-style rules were adopted without public notice. The City Council denied the appeal in January 2025. The developer says the building uses no water for cooling.

2. Keystone (Centra), near downtown. This two-story, roughly 91,000-square-foot building at 265 Keystone Ave was approved in January 2025 with conditions for noise, screening, landscaping, and rooftop solar. After approval, the cooling system changed. That brought a new acoustical study, but no new hearing. Neighbors near Reno High School say they never heard about it until construction started.

3. Oppidan, Stead. This 7-acre site near N. Virginia St. and Stead Blvd. was denied by the Planning Commission in January 2025. In March 2025 the City Council unanimously overturned that denial. It's Reno's first approved data center with evaporative cooling, expected to use about 8 acre-feet of water a year.

Each approval came with its own set of conditions. That's the "piecemeal" approach critics want replaced with one set of rules.

What rules are coming

Reno is writing data-center-specific rules now, and no new data centers can be approved until they're done. The moratorium runs through Aug 31, 2027, or until the new rules take effect.

The council has said the new code could cover:

Allowed locations: which zones data centers can go in, and how close they can be to homes
Noise and air quality, including rooftop and generator equipment
Building safety, including fire safety
Water, energy, and sustainability
Community benefit agreements between developers and neighborhoods

No draft has been released yet. The regional planning agency (TMRPA) is preparing a recommendations report from public input, and Reno staff will write the code from it. Specific numbers, like setback distances, height limits, or a wider notice radius, will come in that draft.

What it means for homeowners and buyers

Zoning decides what can be built near you. Data centers showed how fast that can change.

Buyers: Before you make an offer, check the zoning on nearby vacant or industrial parcels. Mixed-use and industrial land can allow far more than it looks like from the street.
Homeowners: Notice only goes to owners within 750 feet. Watch for yellow land-use signs, and sign up for Reno planning agendas so you hear about projects early.
Everyone: The new data center rules are where setbacks and siting get decided. That's the moment to weigh in, through TMRPA's data center page or by contacting Reno's planning staff.