Birmingham City Council approves data center zoning rules after nearly 3 hours of public comment

The Birmingham City Council has approved new zoning regulations for data centers within city limits, following a nearly three-hour public comment session marked by strong public disagreement. City staff described the ordinance as the strongest in the Southeast, incorporating 20 conditions such as a minimum five-acre lot size, 500-foot setbacks, noise mitigation, and requirements for closed-loop cooling systems and prohibitions on on-site power generators.

However, dozens of residents and community leaders expressed dissatisfaction, particularly regarding a special exception that would allow hyperscale data centers meeting all 20 requirements to bypass public hearings for zoning approval. Speakers like Olivia Thompson, Lauren Gibson, and Terry Michael accused the council of disregarding public input, while attorneys and advocates, including Ryan Anderson of the Southern Environmental Law Center and Allison Black Cornelius of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, criticized the removal of public input mechanisms.

The council's decision was also influenced by a pending lawsuit from Oxmoor community residents against the city to halt construction of a Nebius data center. Council members, including Hunter Williams, argued that passing the ordinance promptly was crucial to establish regulations for current developers before a six-month moratorium on data center applications concludes. Hunter Garrison from the mayor’s office of resilience and sustainability emphasized that the ordinance, a result of reviewing nationwide concerns, aims to protect Birmingham citizens and can be amended as technology evolves. The new rules will be enforced once the current moratorium expires.