Hillsboro's Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday, Sept. 9, to require new data centers to stay at least 1,000 feet from schools.

The school buffer is part of the city's broader data center code overhaul. The vote advances the amendment to Hillsboro City Council for final adoption.

The 1,000-foot buffer was a top demand from residents who packed a marathon Aug. 26 hearing on the same proposal. That session ran four hours and 36 minutes before commissioners adjourned without a vote, the Hillsboro Herald reported. Seventeen people signed up to testify in person, plus one online. Almost none supported the draft as written.

Commissioners directed staff to return Sept. 9 with draft language for school buffers at distances of 500 feet, 1,000 feet and a quarter mile. They chose the middle option.

Commissioner Diana Jackson, a parent whose child attends a school near a proposed data center site, pushed at the Aug. 26 hearing for noise and proximity protections to be included immediately rather than deferred to a second phase of code work planned for winter and spring 2027.

Before the Aug. 26 hearing, Hillsboro Herald editor Dirk Knudsen urged residents to show up, writing on Aug. 25: "Could we at least immediately add a 1/2-mile no-build condition for Data Centers, as we do for Cannabis Dispensaries? I mean, look, we do not allow flavored vapes anymore, but a data center is being built next to our kids is fine?"

The approved amendment also removes code language about distance requirements for energy storage facilities, a change the commission had requested Aug. 26. The Phase 1 code limits new standalone data centers to two industrial zones: Industrial Park and Industrial Sanctuary.

The revised draft also included mandatory Type III public hearings for data center proposals and explicit recognition of AI and edge computing. Staff tightened emergency backup generation requirements and added floor-area limits on secondary uses within data center buildings, according to the Herald's Sept. 8 preview.

The code amendment is the first regulatory step since Hillsboro City Council enacted a 120-day moratorium on new data center and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) applications on July 27. As of July 21, the city counted 23 data center sites totaling about 570 acres: 16 built and seven in permitting or under construction, according to the city's data center page.

Commission President Gabriel Jones-Gallardo presided over the Sept. 9 hearing. Rachel Marble, the city's code and policy project manager, led staff work on the amendment.

A community survey on data centers through Engage Hillsboro will be shared with City Council at its Oct. 6 meeting. Phase 2 code amendments covering building height, additional buffers and green building requirements are scheduled for winter and spring 2027. The moratorium can be extended up to six months if the city holds a public hearing, verifies the need persists and demonstrates reasonable progress.

Meeting video and materials from the Sept. 9 hearing are available on the city's CivicWeb portal and on YouTube.