A small town in Tennessee supported an ordinance this week to ban data centers, citing concerns about how they would affect its resources.
St. Joseph Board of Commissioners voted in favor of the ordinance on first reading. The action taken by board members comes as other data center projects are being discussed in Lawrence County, which has a population of nearly 50,000, according to the town’s press release.
The board of commissioners said they took action to prevent any applications from being filed to have a data center in the town of around 1,000 people.
St. Joseph city leaders said the town’s ban on data centers is about local control.
A concern for the Middle Tennessee town’s leaders was how data centers would strain the city’s limited resources. They noted a large data center in their town would place massive strain on its resources.
Town leaders highlighted reported concerns in other communities about data centers, including noise levels, water and electricity usage, and potential impacts on farms and wildlife.
The ordinance said the town’s public resources are reserved for residents, small businesses, churches, schools, and responsible community growth.
Mayor William Carter said the ordinance prioritizes the town’s residents first.
“St. Joseph’s resources should serve the people who live here, and we have a duty to protect our water, our community, and our future,” he said.
According to Vice Mayor Beverly White, the ordinance is trying to safeguard the town’s essential services.
“Our systems were built for a small community, not massive industrial computing operations,” she said. “We cannot allow a project like this to put pressure on the water, roads, utilities, farms, and emergency services our residents depend on every day.”
Commissioner Marty Passarella and City Manager Chris Jackson said the ordinance was about protecting St. Joseph from outside interests influencing its decision-making on data centers.
“We are taking a stand now because waiting until later is how small towns get pushed around,” Passarella said. “The people of St. Joseph expect us to protect this community, and that is exactly what this ordinance is designed to do.”
“We are not going to let outside interests decide the future of St. Joseph,” Jackson said. “Our water is limited. Our infrastructure is limited. Our way of life matters. We may be small, but we are not powerless. Hopefully, St. Joseph can show other rural communities how to stand up to big-money interests looking to take advantage of them.”
Numerous counties in Tennessee have placed moratoriums on data centers, such as Coffee County and Knox County.
Other counties are considering implementing temporary bans on data centers, such as Davidson County, Wilson County, and Hamilton County.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “Data Center” by chaddavis.photography. CC BY 2.0.
