As debate over data center construction in Nashville intensifies, the Metro Council is expected to take up three different pieces of legislation targeting the matter on Tuesday.
A zoning bill, spearheaded by Councilmember Rollin Horton and a host of additional co-sponsors, would impose restrictions on data centers in Davidson County. Currently, the county offers no regulations involving the tech facilities.
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A public hearing is set for the bill Tuesday night and is expected to draw a large crowd following recent community backlash over a data center proposal near the Nashville Zoo, along with another plan on the campus of Fisk University.
Horton’s bill would fully ban the construction of data centers that are more than 500,000 square feet — roughly the size of nine football fields. Other data centers would be classified as small, medium and large. Medium and large data centers between 20,000 and 499,000 square feet would be allowed only in industrial zoning districts and prohibited in residential areas and mixed-use districts.
Large data centers would be subject to additional strict rules targeting location and method of approval. These centers would need a special exception from the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals and would require a public hearing, during which citizens would have an opportunity to make their thoughts heard.
All data centers would have limitations on noise levels. They bill would limit the facilities to 65 decibels during the day and 55 decibels at night. The centers are also required to use a closed-loop water system that prevents polluted water from being dumped into community water sources.
In addition, the facilities would be required to be sited a certain distance — depending on the size of the center — from residential areas, daycares, religious institutions, parks, zoos and other data centers. A substitute bill, to be considered during Tuesday's meeting, adds correctional facilities and official Choose How You Move All-Access Corridors to that list.
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Mayor Freddie O’Connell has backed a 90-day moratorium on data center construction in Nashville, another item listed on Tuesday's council agenda. The moratorium legislation is sponsored by Councilmember Courtney Johnston, whose district includes the Nashville Zoo.
Additionally, the mayor’s office filed condemnation legislation last week seeking to use eminent domain to acquire the zoo-area property currently being eyed for a data center by Atlanta-based tech company DC BLOX. O’Connell said in a statement that Metro has a “legitimate need for [the] property” located at 648 Grassmere Park. The legislation was late-filed for Tuesday’s meeting, though it could be considered on first reading, if the council votes to suspend its usual rules.
Concerns over potential water and air pollution caused by data centers have led to widespread public outcry from Nashvillians worried about the impact of the facilities on the historically Black North Nashville community surrounding Fisk, as well as the South Nashville neighborhoods and zoo animals within close proximity to the DC BLOX proposal.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
