Hamilton County is contemplating a one-year pause on new data centers.
Mayor Weston Wamp introduced a resolution this week proposing a one-year ban on new data centers in the county, which has nearly 400,000 residents.
The Hamilton County Commission will vote on the resolution on July 15th.
According to Wamp (pictured above), the one-year ban on new data centers would give the county time to gather community input and study the impact on the county’s rural communities.
Hamilton County Planning Department would study other places that have adopted data center regulations and review their best practices during the moratorium.
The department would also meet with Tennessee Valley Authority, the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, and local water providers to understand the impact data centers will have on utilities.
“Developments like data centers, with the potential to negatively affect our unincorporated communities, are exactly why we established a county planning department,” Wamp said.
“We’re taking a proactive approach by giving our planning department time to meet with local utility providers and study the impacts of data centers in rural areas so that we can thoughtfully plan for the county’s future,” he added.
Commissioner Steve Highlander, chairman of the county commission’s Public Works and Zoning Committee, noted “growth is coming” to the county’s rural areas.
“The reality is we don’t know enough yet about the long-term impacts data centers could have on our water, farmland, utilities, and surrounding communities,” Highlander said.
“This moratorium gives residents a voice while we take the time to better understand those impacts before establishing long-term regulations,” he added.
Currently, Hamilton County has four data centers and plans to convert an old county jail into a data center, which will not be affected by the potential moratorium.
Numerous Tennessee counties have implemented bans on data centers, such as Knox County and Coffee County.
Davidson County and Wilson County are also considering implementing temporary bans on data centers.
On top of this, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell may use eminent domain to take control of property near the Nashville Zoo to prevent a data center from being built there.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected]. Photo “County Mayor Weston Wamp” by County Mayor Weston Wamp.
