The Shelby County Board of Commissioners passed on votes for a proposed data center ordinance and a 12-month moratorium on new data center construction in unincorporated areas at the board’s Monday, Oct. 26, meeting.
A first-reading of the proposals was moved to the Nov. 18 meeting. A community meeting will be scheduled before the next commission meeting to help build momentum.
At this time, no data centers operate in unincorporated parts of the county.
“I move that we defer this resolution to Nov. 18 so that we can allow for a community meeting with relevant experts to strengthen this resolution,” said Commissioner Karen Streeter, District 9.
Sponsors of the county’s proposed data center rules are awaiting further development of an oversight and compliance framework by Memphis City Council for the supercomputing facilities that looks to combine three separate ordinance proposals into a comprehensive set of regulations.
A nearly identical proposal sponsored by Commissioner Amber Huett-Garcia, District 13, which appears to have the inside track, has picked up steam since being introduced during Oct. 19 committee meetings. Commissioners Charlie Caswell, District 6, Henri Brooks, District 7, Will Richardson, District 8, and Miska Clay Bibbs, District 11, are cosponsors.
Foremost in the county’s proposal, which contains language from Councilman Jeff Warren’s draft for the city, is a progressive push for the use of renewable energy, including phasing out carbon-based electricity. Closed-loop water and nonevaporative cooling systems would also be required.
Both proposals aim to address the serious burden of data centers — such as SpaceXAI’s Colossus I in Southwest Memphis — on utility usage and costs and the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the underground water reservoir that provides the entire county’s drinking water.
Last week, city council members approved a 135-day data center moratorium, a scaled-down version of the failed 12-month pause sought by JB Smiley that would have prohibited new developments. Still, a yearlong moratorium that would apply to unincorporated sections of the county is being considered by the commission.
At the Nov. 18 meeting, however, an amendment pausing the expansion of existing data centers will likely be added to the ordinance proposal. A study group was also considered.
“That’s not something that’s covered in the existing resolution or the city resolution,” said Brooks. “In addition to that, it also creates a study committee with residents, health department experts and so forth.”
Opposition to data centers has exploded locally and across the nation this campaign season. Councilwoman Jerri Greene, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, has seized on the divisive political issue. Greene, who is gaining ground on Republican nominee Sen. Marsha Blackburn in the Nov. 3 contest, also supported Smiley’s proposed 12-month moratorium.
On Oct. 12, Millington’s mayor and aldermen passed a six-month pause that is set to expire in April on any data center developments. Home to the U.S. Navy’s Naval Support Activity Mid-South, the municipality is the only one in the county to enact a moratorium on data centers.
Brooks’ proposed moratorium would expire once permanent regulations are adopted. The second-term commissioner credited a Memphis-based civil rights and environmental justice nonprofit for crafting the amendments.
“This moratorium will keep the data center projects from locking in on today’s rules while we develop standards, and those standards are completed and adopted,” explained Brooks. “It gives residents a seat at the table and it ends when the standards and rules take effect.”
Huett-Garcia’s proposal is also expected to undergo changes in the future.
On Tuesday, members of the council’s zoning committee met to discuss another aspect of the ordinance. Councilman Philip Spinosa’s contribution to the compendium categorizes data centers into three classifications, based on their energy draw. Strict development standards on infrastructure, resources and public development benefits are also included. And future projects would be required to seek city approval.
The final part of the city ordinance would be inserted in the city-county unified development code.
Last week, Huett-Garcia said the difference between her proposal and the city’s is the county’s obligation to its code of ordinances.
