As data centers keep going up along the Wasatch Front, one West Jordan neighborhood is showing what can happen when they sit right across the street from homes. Residents near a three-building campus operated by Aligned Data Centers told The Salt Lake Tribune that a constant hum, and backup generators that fire up at random times, have made it hard to sleep or enjoy their yards.
"It's really difficult to live in my house and yard when they're on," neighbor Susan Jurges told the Tribune. When several start at once, she said, "I literally just leave my house."
The campus
The campus sits at 3333 W. 9000 South. According to a city Facebook post cited by the Tribune, the centers were built in phases after the land was bought in 2018, and one moved into a former semiconductor building already on the site. The campus covers 55 acres.
Jurges said the generators run at random times of day or night, sometimes for more than two hours, based on her own tracking. Over a two-week stretch, she said, it happened nearly every day.
Theresa Sorensen, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, told the Tribune her property value has dropped significantly while her taxes have gone up. She said the operator has done some work on the noise, including a sound-reducing barrier, but she feels it hasn't helped much. "These streets in between our houses act like tunnels," she said.
Elisabeth Rogers, whose front porch faces the campus, said she has planted trees to dampen the sound, but the hum still reaches her home. On the other side of the campus, Marylin Collard said she installed triple-pane windows and heavy-duty shutters to block sound and floodlights. Those changes helped, she said.
What the company and county say
In a statement to the Tribune, Aligned Data Centers said it hired a third-party firm to do a sound study, and the findings will help decide its next steps. The company said the backup generators run for emergency power and for routine testing and maintenance, and that residents can find updates on planned non-emergency activity on its website.
"Being a good neighbor matters to us, and we take the concerns West Jordan residents have raised about sound seriously," the company said.
The Salt Lake County Health Department has received four formal noise complaints since August, which led to an investigation, a spokesperson confirmed to the Tribune. The county's noise ordinance restricts loud sounds between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and sets daytime limits. The department doesn't release preliminary findings, but residents said some readings taken by investigators were over the legal limit. The county expects to wrap up its investigation in November.
If a facility is found in violation, the department would first work with the operator to reduce the noise, then could issue a warning letter or a formal violation notice if problems continue. The Tribune reports the department can allow levels above the limit if no alternative exists and the facility shows it is using all reasonable measures to control noise.
Not every data center is the same
The Tribune notes that data center backers have argued the facilities vary widely. At an August Spanish Fork City Council meeting, council member Kevin Oyler said he visited homes near a different West Jordan data center, operated by Novva, and "there was not one resident I spoke with that had a concern about living next to the data center."
Sorensen, who lives about 5 miles from that site, called the comparison "apples to oranges."
Why it matters for contractors
Data centers are one of the biggest sources of commercial and electrical work in Utah right now, and this story shows why the details of siting and noise control are getting more attention. Neighbor complaints like these tend to show up later as tougher conditions on the next project: sound studies, barrier walls, enclosure specs for generators, setback requirements, landscaping buffers and limits on testing hours.
For electrical, mechanical and acoustical contractors, that can mean more scope, such as sound-attenuating generator enclosures, mufflers, barrier walls and retrofit work on existing campuses. For general contractors and developers, it means expecting more questions from planning commissions about generator placement and testing schedules, and planning budgets around them.
Residential remodelers may see some work too. Homeowners near industrial sites are already paying for triple-pane windows, shutters and other sound fixes. Watch for the county's findings in November, which could shape how noise rules are enforced on data centers across Salt Lake County.