🌙 Will a data center light up the night sky like the La Cygne power plant?

This concern usually comes from comparing a data center to the La Cygne Generating Station, which many residents can see lit up at night. It’s a fair thing to ask, but the two facilities are very different in how — and why — they are lit.

Why a power plant glows at night:

• It has tall structures — stacks, boiler houses, and cooling towers — that require federally mandated aviation warning lights (the blinking red beacons).
• It has large outdoor work areas (coal handling, switchyards, turbine decks) that are floodlit around the clock for worker safety, because people are physically working outside all night.

Why a data center is different:

• The work happens inside, on racks of servers — it’s automated, with few or no staff on site at night. There is no operational reason to floodlight the grounds.
• Data center buildings are typically low-profile, so they generally do not trigger the aviation lighting that tall stacks and towers do.
• Their real lighting need is modest — security and entry/parking lighting — which can be shielded, aimed downward, and even motion-activated.

What the City requires / commits to:

The draft ordinance does not ask residents to simply trust that a facility won’t be bright — it prohibits that outcome. Section 11 — Lighting & Dark Sky Protection requires that all exterior lighting be:

• Fully shielded and directed downward;
• Designed to prevent light spillover onto adjacent property;
• Designed to minimize glare and preserve dark-sky conditions; and
• Free of floodlighting except for temporary maintenance or emergencies.

A lighting plan must be submitted and approved before construction, and these standards are enforceable. In short: a data center has neither the structures nor the operational need that make a power plant glow, and the ordinance’s dark-sky requirements are written specifically to keep our night sky dark.