Jimmie Stephens said he is unaware of any efforts to bring a major data center to any part of unincorporated Jefferson County, but, the County Commission president said, that makes this the best time to devise a plan for such a development.

“We don’t have anything in the pipeline that I’m aware of in unincorporated Jefferson County,” Stephens said near the end of last week’s commission meeting. “Now is an appropriate time for us to set those parameters moving forward, so the developers can have an expectation and understand what’s needed and necessary for them to place it in Jefferson County and to be successful without intruding on the community.”

Fresh on everyone’s mind was the Bessemer City Council’s approval of a zoning change that opened the door to the construction of a $14.5 billion data center. Some fought the development, expressing concerns about utility demands, possible noise and the potential impact on the long-discussed Northern Beltline.

Stephens weighed in with concerns but could not alter plans as the development is in Bessemer. His discussion at the recent commission meeting looked down the road to possible efforts by developers to seek a zoning change to permit the building of such a data center in unincorporated areas of the county.

Stephens acknowledged having talked with Developmental Services Director Josh Johnson about altering the recently enacted land use plan and zoning regulations to account for the conditions that a large data center could create.

“Right now, they’re just in the industrial zone,” Stephens said. “We need to have a special zoning classification for them where the buffers will be in place and make sure that the high demand for utilities can be met before we approve anything. If we’re proactive with this and work through our Developmental Services, I think we can come up with something that will satisfy the developers and the community. Josh and I, we said maybe (his department could) have something back to us in 90 days where we can look at it.”

Johnson acknowledged having not yet done a lot of research on large data centers.

“But it really depends on the type of data center that’s going in,” he said. “It seems like some of them are a little more intensive, either in terms of the noise and utilities that generate. Of course, some of that has to do with the capacity of utility companies around them, things that are a little more subjective and site specific.”

Commissioner Sheila Tyson asked about DC BLOX, the data center that came to Birmingham’s North Titusville Neighborhood in 2019. Stephens said that development is smaller than the one that was approved for Bessemer.

“We need to go and see one of these (large data centers) firsthand and get experience to see exactly what we have, so we can speak to what it will mean for the community,” the commission president said. “There’s plenty of areas in unincorporated Jefferson County where this would work. At the same time, there’s plenty of unincorporated areas in Jefferson County that it would not work. That’s what we need to do now, determine what can be a proper placement.

“If indeed we have an area that would be conducive to doing that, when you have the proper buffers around it and make sure that the utilities did not strain the existing infrastructure,” Stephens continued. “It’s a challenge, and it will be. There’s so much speculation with these data centers (that) everyone’s in a rush to get them. We want to be careful and mindful for our residents. But if there are opportunities there, we need to take advantage of them.”

Tyson asked about the reality of finances related to data centers, saying that developers likely would seek tax abatements to bring projects to fruition.

“After tax abatements, we might wind up owing them some money,” Tyson said.

Stephens responded by saying that Jeff Traywick, the county’s economic development specialist, should come up with a standard abatement package. That way, a developer would know and the county would know what to expect from each situation.

Commissioner Joe Knight noted that data centers are up and coming.

“We haven’t really had to deal with this in the past,” he said. “But with the advent or the acceleration of AI (artificial intelligence), the need to power AI is … it’s kind of a relatively new phenomenon to me. I’m sure it’s been out there a while. Some kind of direction for us would help. That’s where I’m lacking. I know there’s been a lot of controversy about the one in Bessemer that they approved.”

Tyson asked what makes an area attractive to developers when it comes to data centers. Johnson said terrain and requisite space to build are factors. So too are the capacities of utilities that serve an area, including Alabama Power and Tennessee Valley Authority.

“It’s important to work with Alabama Power or TVA, whichever it may be,” Stephens said. “TVA services Tarrant city and Bessemer and some of the surrounding areas there.”

Said Knight: “They’re coming. We’re gonna have to deal with them.”