Tennessee legislation threatening local zoning control over land use defeated
A proposed Tennessee state bill (HB 1837/SB 1908) that would have severely limited local governments' zoning control, potentially allowing data centers in residential areas, was narrowly defeated. The legislation would have enabled landowners to sue cities for property value loss due to zoning restrictions. Advocacy by the Southern Environmental Law Center was crucial in persuading sponsors to withdraw the bills.
The future of local zoning control in McMinnville, Tennessee, and across the state was recently at risk due to proposed state legislation. House Bill 1837 and Senate Bill 1908 aimed to grant landowners new statutory rights to sue local governments if zoning restrictions were deemed to reduce their property's monetary value, effectively handcuffing cities and counties from controlling land uses.
Public-interest attorney George Nolan, director of the Tennessee division of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), highlighted that this legislation, which he called "one of the scariest things we've seen," could have allowed industrial operations like data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations to be built in residential neighborhoods without local oversight. The bills advanced quietly through subcommittees with little scrutiny.
However, the SELC successfully advocated for the House sponsor, Rep. Tim Hicks, R-Gray, to pull HB 1837. In the Senate, despite the companion bill cruising through initial stages, testimony from the SELC at the Judiciary Committee led the Republican-dominated panel's chair to adjourn without calling for a vote. While the legislation was defeated for now, Nolan expressed concern that similar efforts to curb local land-use regulation could re-emerge in the next legislative session.