Birmingham City Council votes to approve new ordinance regulating data centers

The Birmingham City Council voted 6-to-3 to approve a new ordinance regulating data center development, following a nearly three-hour public hearing where approximately 50 people spoke. The ordinance includes "20 protections" aimed at addressing concerns such as water use, onsite power generation, and location of data centers.

Hunter Garrison, Deputy Director of the Mayor's Office of Resilience and Sustainability, stated that these conditions are among the strongest in the region, prohibiting issues like onsite power generation and excessive water use by requiring closed-loop systems. He also noted that zoning categories limit the number of sites available for large hyperscale data centers within the city.

However, residents who testified expressed dissatisfaction, arguing the proposed amendments do not go far enough. Specific concerns included setbacks, lack of explicit noise mitigation measures, and the removal of a "special exception" for hyperscale data centers, which limits public input. Speakers like Lauren Gibson, John Hilley, and Shiree Bishop voiced their disapproval, with Gibson threatening electoral consequences. Allison Black Cornelius, CEO of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, also testified that the new ordinance is weaker than those in other cities and criticised the removal of public input mechanisms. Her organization is building a new campus next to the Nebius AI project, a hyperscale data center permitted before these regulations were in place.

While the city indicates that further changes to the ordinance are possible, the new regulations are expected to go into effect within 11 days.