Marshall County approves permanent ban on data centers, effective immediately

Marshall County Commissioners have enacted a permanent ban on data center development, effective immediately, after a year and a half of research and ordinance revisions. The county had previously implemented a one-year moratorium that blocked both data centers and industrial-scale solar farms to allow the planning commission to develop new regulations. Commissioner Jesse Bohannon stated that the permanent ban, along with other adopted ordinances, is crucial for protecting Marshall County residents from various large-scale developments, including data centers, battery energy storage systems, farm-scale solar, and carbon sequestration. The Marshall County Ordinance Committee consulted with experts to guide the rewriting of these regulations. While Marshall County moves to restrict these developments, some neighboring counties are pursuing similar projects. In addition to the data center ban, the commissioners adopted an ordinance imposing restrictions on Battery Energy Storage Systems, requiring county approvals and a 1,320-foot setback from the nearest property. They also advanced a first reading of regulations for large-scale solar farms, proposing a cap of five acres for solar panel areas. Deborah Johnson, president of the Marshall County Council and Planning Commission, highlighted that existing ordinances were insufficient to protect the county from the scale of modern large-scale projects.