Metro Council advances data center bills, with hearings attracting 178 speakers.
Image Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner
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by Stephen Elliott [The Nashville Banner, Creative Commons] –
More than 100 Nashvillians spoke in opposition to data center development at Metro Council public hearings on Tuesday at a marathon meeting that stretched into the morning.
Two linked bills (BL2026-1391 and BL2026-1392, sponsored by Councilmember Rollin Horton and most other councilmembers) on Tuesday’s agenda would establish zoning rules for data centers, including a ban on the largest data centers and buffer zones preventing the facilities from being built near sensitive sites like schools, hospitals and transit corridors.
A third bill (BL2026-1448, sponsored by Councilmember Courtney Johnston) would establish a temporary moratorium on granting permits for new data centers. Because the moratorium is designed to be lifted once Metro establishes zoning regulations for data centers, and the three bills are on track to pass at the same time, the moratorium might never actually go into effect.
All three bills passed their second of three required votes following the public hearings. They will be considered again at the July 21 Metro Council meeting, when amendments are likely to be considered.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who has expressed support for BL2026-1391 and BL2026-1448, filed another piece of legislation that would begin the process of condemning the property next to the Nashville Zoo where data center company DC Blox is planning to build a facility. The condemnation legislation was late-filed, meaning two councilmembers could have objected and prevented it from being heard for the first of three votes on Tuesday. Only Councilmember Joy Styles objected, and it passed on first reading.
An intense interest in data center regulation has blossomed in Nashville in recent weeks, particularly in the wake of two announced data center projects: the DC Blox development by the zoo and Fisk University’s proposed on-campus data center.
The combined public hearings for the zoning and moratorium bills ran four and a half hours, with 178 speakers delivering remarks in support of the restricting data centers. Dozens more signed up to speak but ultimately did not. That’s compared to the 106 who spoke during June’s budget public hearing, typically one of the busiest public hearings of the council’s year.
Speakers told stories about visits to the Nashville Zoo, delivered at least three original poems and raised concerns about sound, emissions and strain on the power grid. No one opposed the zoning legislation during the marathon hearing, though several urged councilmembers to amend it to strengthen the requirements, including by increasing distance buffers. Some speakers also expressed opposition to artificial intelligence and its impact on artists and the economy.
“When the question is convenience and profits versus physical quality of life, I feel like the answer should be obvious,” Camden Perez said.
Some commenters said it’s too risky to allow more and larger data centers without better information about what effects they have.
“Data centers present serious quality of life risks that cannot be mitigated because they are not fully understood,” Emily Summers said.
While many speakers at the public hearing said they support the regulations to protect the zoo — “I love the zoo and want the animals to stay happy and healthy,” a child named Josiah said — the mayor and others acknowledged that the regulations might be coming too late to apply to the DC Blox project, which has already applied for permits.
Winston Wright, a leader of protests against the Fisk project, said he supported the legislation but that “it appears that Nashville cares more about animals than we do about residents of North Nashville.”
At a public appearance on Tuesday, Mayor Freddie O’Connell echoed his support for the legislation on the council agenda. He said that both his administration and Metro Council were already looking at the issue before it exploded into the public consciousness, but that the new attention “catalyzed and crystallized” that work.
He also echoed his belief that the Fisk proposal is fundamentally different from the DC Blox project, quoting Fisk President Agenia Clark’s pledge to “do no harm” and citing the college’s stated support for the zoning regulations.
“Having a historically Black college and university volunteer a place on their campus and explore innovation is totally different than having an out-of-area entity securing a [property near a] very sensitive site that neither the sensitive site nor the community around it want,” O’Connell said. “I know Fisk’s got to make that case to the public.”
The mayor said it is possible for data centers to be developed without doing harm.
“I think if you do it carefully, it’s like most things in a city where we have industrial land, we have manufacturing sites, we have technology,” he said. “If we get the policy right, and they do the community engagement right, and the community gets what they need, this is what councilmembers, mayor’s offices, public policymakers and partners do all the time. What we have not seen is a show of good faith yet from DC Blox.”
The fight over the zoo kicked up a notch shortly before Tuesday’s council meeting began, as DC Blox circulated a statement describing “collaborative talks organized by the mayor’s office” at which various stakeholders discussed a potential reduction in scale of the project and different sound, water and other mitigation options.
But both the mayor and zoo leadership disputed the characterization.
“It was cordial, and everybody got to speak, but there was no common ground, and our concerns have not been mitigated or resolved,” Nashville Zoo board chair Butch Spyridon told the Banner. “We’re not as far along as they might think we are, and this needs to go away.”
In a statement, O’Connell called DC Blox’s statement “inaccurate, wishful thinking that is divorced from reality and indicative of a company trying to repair a PR problem they caused for themselves.”
“The timing would suggest an attempt to disrupt tonight’s council votes on data center legislation,” the mayor continued. “To be clear, I called a meeting because there are three parties interested in the property, and Metro intends to acquire the land. We will proceed in Metro’s interests.”
