For Reporters
Data, images and background on the South Dakota Data Center Ordinance Tracker. Everything on this page is free to use with credit.
Press Contact
David can walk through the statewide data, pull numbers for a county or region, or explain how an ordinance was rated.
Email the Press ContactAbout the Tracker
- Covers all 66 South Dakota counties and their 310 cities and towns. A county entry describes the rules for the land outside city and town limits.
- Every entry links to its public source, such as the ordinance or meeting minutes.
- Every adopted ordinance is rated against one published 52-criterion standard.
- A local government whose data center rules come from a county ordinance is counted under County Rules Apply or County Rules May Apply, not as an adoption, and its rating is the county ordinance's rating.
- This is a pilot: research has started in 10 counties, and every other entry is marked Not Yet Verified. Entries that have scheduled hearings or votes are rechecked at least every two weeks. Independent and not funded by any developer, utility, company or government body.
Key Numbers
These numbers update with each data update.
0
local governments with no ordinance (56 percent)
0
have adopted rules of their own (15 percent)
0
more where county rules apply, and 26 where they may apply
0
with a proposed ordinance (18 percent)
None yet
core protections in the typical ordinance a local government adopted
Downloads
The data is licensed under CC BY 4.0, so you may use it freely with credit: “South Dakota Data Center Ordinance Tracker, sddatacenterordinances.org,” with the date you checked the data. See Using This Data.
Statewide Data TableEvery local government's status, rating and source link
County Data TableEach county's totals and strongest ordinance
What the spreadsheet columns mean
A blank cell means the value does not exist or has not been recorded; a 0 means the text was read and scored 0. The same guide is in README.txt.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Local Government file | |
| County | The county the local government is in. |
| Local Government | The name, for example Yankton County or Rapid City. |
| Type | County, City, Town or Village. |
| Status | Adopted Ordinance (the local government enacted its own rules), County Rules Apply or County Rules May Apply (rules come from a county ordinance), Proposed Ordinance (a formal step has been taken on a draft), No Ordinance Yet: Draft Under Discussion, or No Ordinance. |
| Rating Basis | What the rating is based on: Adopted text, County ordinance text, Draft text, Pending (the text has not been seen or read yet), No ordinance, or Not rated. |
| Core Protections (0 to 10) | How many of the Ten Core Protections the text addresses, as a number. Blank when there is no rated text; blank is not the same as 0. |
| Coverage Band | Broad (7 to 10), Partial (4 to 6), Narrow (1 to 3) or No coverage (0). Blank when there is no rated text. |
| Protections at Best Standard (0 to 10) | How many of the ten meet the best standard. Blank when there is no rated text. |
| Points (of 104) | The score across all 52 criteria of the Tracker Standard, 0 to 2 points each. Blank when it has not been recorded. |
| Percent of Points | Points divided by 104, as a percent. |
| Ordinance in Effect | The ordinance number or name of the rules in effect, as recorded, for example No. 01-2026 or a county ordinance. Blank when none is recorded. |
| Adoption Date | The date of the most recent dated record that says the ordinance was adopted or enacted (YYYY-MM-DD). Blank when no such record is listed; check the Tracker Page for the full history. |
| Summary | The two-sentence summary shown on the Tracker Page. |
| Core Protections (Display) | The rating as the site shows it, for example 4 of 10 (Partial coverage). |
| Where Data Centers Are Allowed | The districts or approval path, as recorded. |
| Last Verified | The date the record was last checked (YYYY-MM-DD). |
| Primary Source | A link to the main public record used. |
| Tracker Page | The local government page on sddatacenterordinances.org. |
| County Rule Note | For County Rules Apply and County Rules May Apply, the reason county rules reach the local government. |
| As Of | The date of the data in the file. |
| County file | |
| Adopted Ordinances (Municipal) | Local Governments with their own adopted ordinance; county rules are counted separately. |
| Share Adopted (%) | Adopted Ordinances (Municipal) divided by Local Governments. |
| Typical Core Protections (Median, of 10) | The middle Core Protections count among the county’s own adopted, rated ordinances. Blank when there are none. |
| Highest Rated Ordinance | The adopted municipal ordinance with the most Core Protections, with its score in the next column. |
How to Cite
South Dakota Data Center Ordinance Tracker, sddatacenterordinances.org, accessed [date].
For a single local government, link to its page on the tracker so readers can see the source documents.