Birmingham City Council Votes 6-3 to Pass New Regulations for Data Centers
The Birmingham City Council approved a new zoning ordinance with 20 protective conditions for hyperscale data centers, passing it 6-3 after a nearly five-hour meeting. The regulations will take effect once the city's six-month moratorium on data center applications is lifted. Residents expressed concerns that the new guardrails were not strong enough.
The Birmingham City Council voted 6-3 on Tuesday to approve a new zoning ordinance that establishes 20 protective conditions for hyperscale data centers. This decision followed a nearly five-hour meeting, including a three-hour public hearing, where numerous residents and stakeholders voiced concerns that the proposed safeguards were insufficient.
Hunter Garrison, Deputy Director of the city’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, presented the regulations as "unmatched" in the Southeast and among the strongest in Alabama, emphasizing their comprehensive approach to environmental impacts, energy use, noise, land compatibility, and community notification. Despite these assurances, many attendees booed the ordinance's approval, arguing that the removal of a special exceptions requirement under zoning policy would diminish public input and that conditions like the 500-foot setback were inadequate.
Key features of the ordinance include new regulations for hyperscale data centers, defined as large facilities for high-volume computing. The council had previously postponed a vote on April 28 to request revised guidelines. These new regulations will become effective once a six-month moratorium on data center applications, enacted by the city council on March 3, is lifted.