State law, local drafts, and tools for South Dakota counties, cities, and towns that are writing or updating data center rules.
These resources are for reference and are not legal advice. Work with your county or city attorney and your planning commission before adopting any ordinance. Listing a resource here is not an endorsement. This page is a first edition for South Dakota, and more resources will be added as counties are researched.
2026 Session Laws, chapter 190 · Signed March 24, 2026
Protects the power of counties, cities, and towns to restrict, prohibit, or otherwise regulate data centers. For data centers with a peak demand of 10 megawatts or more, it requires electricity providers to recover the costs they cause and sets up review and public reporting of water use.
2026 Session Laws, chapter 185 · Signed March 24, 2026
Lets the Public Utilities Commission charge the actual cost of reviewing an electric service agreement for a data center with a peak demand of 10 megawatts or more.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 11-2
The county zoning law: adopting an ordinance, hearings and notice, conditional uses, temporary zoning controls, the board of adjustment, referendum, and appeals.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 11-4
The zoning law for cities and towns: hearings and notice, conditional uses, temporary zoning ordinances, protests by neighboring owners, and the board of adjustment.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 11-6
Comprehensive plans, and the joint jurisdiction area of up to six miles outside a city where the city and the county plan and zone together.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 9-20
How voters in a city or town propose an ordinance or refer one to a public vote: five percent of registered voters, and 20 days after publication for a referendum petition.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 7-18A
How county ordinances take effect and how county voters propose or refer one.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 1-27
The public records law: informal and written requests, the 10 business day deadline, fees, and review by a court or the Office of Hearing Examiners.
South Dakota Codified Laws, chapter 1-25
Posting of agendas at least 24 hours ahead, public comment at every official meeting, and the right to record.
These are the South Dakota drafts and ordinances the tracker has found so far. None has been rated yet. Each will be rated from its full text as its county is researched.
County planning staff, August 2026 (copy posted by KELO)
A first staff draft presented to the Planning Commission for discussion. As presented, it would make data centers a conditional use in commercial and industrial districts and would prohibit facilities larger than 500,000 square feet.
Proposed · Joint public hearing held August 10, 2026
A proposed county data center ordinance. The county website posts the notice and the proposed amendment.
Reported as Ordinance 2025-1 · County website
The county treats a data processing center as a conditional use and is hearing a permit application under those rules. The tracker has not yet read the ordinance text.
Introduced September 10, 2026
A proposed update to the city data center rules adopted in December 2024. As reported, it would sort data centers by power and water use, set distances from homes, and prohibit hyperscale data centers.
City Council committee, formed October 2026
The committee is reviewing how the city regulates data centers and is to report to the City Council by January 12, 2027. Proposed ordinances and comments are due November 27, 2026.
First reading November 5, 2026
A draft county data center ordinance written during a six-month moratorium. As reported, it would prohibit data centers above 25 megawatts.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission sets the rates of six investor-owned electric companies: Black Hills Energy, MidAmerican Energy, Montana-Dakota Utilities, NorthWestern Energy, Otter Tail Power, and Xcel Energy. It does not set the rates of electric cooperatives or city utilities, whose boards set their own. A new customer with a demand of 2,000 kilowatts or more, at a new location outside a city, may ask the Commission for permission to take service from a utility other than the one assigned to that area.
State utility regulator
Rate cases, service territory maps, and dockets for large power lines. The Commission takes public comments in its cases.
Public Utilities Commission directory
Contact information for the rural electric cooperatives that serve much of South Dakota. Each cooperative is governed by a board elected by its members.
South Dakota Codified Laws, section 49-34A-56
The law that lets a large new customer ask to be served by a utility other than the one assigned to its location.
State environmental and water agency
Air quality permits, water rights, and the Board of Water Management, which reviews the water use of large data centers under Senate Bill 135.
The first edition of this tracker
Rates the data center ordinances of Pennsylvania counties and municipalities against the same 52 criteria, with hundreds of adopted ordinances to compare.
South Dakota for Data Center Transparency (resident organization)
A calendar of hearings, filings, and public comment deadlines on data centers and power lines, county by county. It is an advocacy site and is separate from this tracker.