Lawrence County residents launch second petition seeking data center moratorium
Residents in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, have launched a second petition seeking an 18-month moratorium on data center developments in Lawrence County. This action comes as a proposed data center's site plan is scheduled to go before the Lawrenceburg City Planning Commission on July 9, following earlier community concerns about water, electricity, noise, and transparency.
Residents of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, have initiated a second petition advocating for an 18-month moratorium on data center development in Lawrence County. This renewed effort is in response to a proposed 60,000-square-foot, 5-megawatt cloud storage data center planned for Flatwoods Road, whose site plan is set to be reviewed by the Lawrenceburg City Planning Commission on July 9 at 1 p.m. Community concerns, which were previously voiced in May to NewsChannel 5's Rhori Johnston, center on the project's potential impacts on local water resources, electricity demand, and noise, as well as a perceived lack of transparency during the earlier rezoning process from residential to light industrial.
Organizers of the opposition are encouraging supporters to sign the petition, attend the upcoming planning commission meeting, and have launched an online fundraiser. Funds raised are intended for public awareness campaigns through billboards and online advertising to promote the moratorium effort. Additionally, organizers state that funds could be used to hire an attorney to pursue legal action, specifically alleging violations of Tennessee's Sunshine Law. The article notes that similar moratoriums have been approved in other Middle Tennessee communities, such as McMinnville and Coffee County, highlighting a regional trend of local governments addressing data center regulation.