# Conway Data Center Noise Ordinance (O-23-55) Conway's 2023 **emergency ordinance** regulating external noise from data centers — the operative noise-control mechanism Conway staff cite when responding to constituent concerns about [[Project Stratus]]. The full recorded text was retrieved and archived 2026-06-03 (primary public record, [O-23-55 recorded ordinance](../../web%20archive/2026-06-03/media.conwayarkansas.gov/O-23-55-data-center-noise-ordinance-2023.md)), which corrects and substantially expands the earlier FAQ-only account. ## What the ordinance actually says - **Emergency ordinance, passed July 25, 2023.** Titled "AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE ... CONCERNING EXTERNAL NOISE ATTENUATION OF DATA CENTERS," it was *"PASSED this 25th day of July, 2023"* (Mayor Bart Castleberry; attest Michael O. Garrett), with an emergency clause making it effective immediately, and **recorded in the Faulkner County Circuit Clerk's office as Doc. L202311503 on 2023-08-23**. (This corrects this page's earlier "September 26, 2023" date, which was inferred from a FOIA-produced agenda; the recorded ordinance is authoritative. The July 25 emergency adoption — ahead of an Arkansas data-center law effective Aug. 1, 2023 — is the documented date.) - **Two-tier noise limit (Article 5), not a single 65 dBA cap.** A data center is in violation if its external sound level is *"65 dBa or higher during the hours of 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. **or 55 dBa or higher during the hours of 10 P.M. to 8 A.M.** measured at the property line of the receiving property."* The stricter **55 dBA night limit** is the binding constraint for a 24/7 facility. - **Scope includes crypto-mining.** "Data Center" is defined (Article 2) to include *"facilities used for cryptocurrency mining."* - **Pre-construction process (Article 3):** (1) **half-mile-radius notice** to all residents and HOAs plus the mayor, proof filed with the city clerk within 30 days; (2) a **baseline sound study by a third-party acoustic engineer**, measured at the property line in **eight compass locations**, with mitigation recommendations; (3) a **noise-attenuation building plan** by a third-party architectural/design firm, with mechanical equipment "fully screened on all sides." - **Post-construction + annual studies (Article 3.4); operational bar is real.** A post-construction study at full capacity (all HVAC + generators) is required, and *"The Data Center shall not begin operations until the completion of the post-construction noise study"* showing compliance; **annual** studies follow. So the FAQ's "It won't be allowed to operate until it is in compliance" is **the ordinance's actual text** (Articles 3.4, 6.3), not aspirational framing. - **Penalties (Article 7):** misdemeanor; **$1,000 per offense** (double for repetition); **$500/day** for a continuing violation; injunctive relief; and the data center "shall cease operations" until compliant. ## How it appears in the corpus - **[[April 2026 FAQ Project Stratus|FAQ Q28]]**: "The primary limit on noise will be the 2023 Data Center Noise Ordinance (O-23-55)." - **FAQ Q29**: "Go to the city website and look up Ordinance No. O-23-55. It is a thorough process." (enforcement). - **FAQ Q30**: "It won't be allowed to operate until it is in compliance." — confirmed by Article 3.4(b)/6.3. - **FAQ Q34**: "The noise ordinance limits noise at the boundaries of the property to 65 decibels. That is the same level as a conversation." — *incomplete*: the FAQ omits the stricter 55 dBA night limit. - **FAQ Q35**: "The generators would be subject to the same noise ordinances. The noise ordinance does address hours of operation." ## Stakeholders - [[City of Conway]] — adopting authority (emergency ordinance, July 25, 2023). - Adjacent property owners — beneficiaries of the boundary limits and the half-mile notice. - Data-center operators (including [[Forgelight Ventures, LLC]] / [[Project Stratus]] going forward) — subject to the limits and the baseline/post-construction/annual study regime. ## Notes That Conway adopted a stand-alone, **emergency** data-center noise ordinance in July 2023 — *before any specific data-center project was announced in Conway*, and timed just ahead of an Arkansas data-center statute effective Aug. 1, 2023 — indicates the City was building its regulatory framework for hyperscale reception well over a year before [[Project Stratus]] surfaced. The ordinance is materially more demanding than the FAQ's "same level as a conversation" gloss: a 55 dBA night boundary limit, an eight-point baseline study, a third-party-designed attenuation plan, a pre-operation compliance gate, and annual re-testing together constrain cooling-tower fan selection, transformer and generator-yard placement, and overall site design. **Correction (2026-06-03).** The half-mile-radius notice requirement is part of **O-23-55 itself (Article 3.1)**, not a novelty of the separate "Conway Data Center Notification Ordinance" draft attributed to Lauren Hoffman in the [[Conway Internal Staff Teams Chats on Project Stratus|April 21, 2025 Teams chat]]. That April 2025 draft (not in the FOIA-2026-126 production in final form) would layer *additional* notice-and-operation regulation atop the half-mile notice O-23-55 already requires.