The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved a 180-day moratorium on new hyperscale data centers.

The vote came after a second public hearing on the issue, in which residents again voiced opposition to the facilities.

“We want to be sure the city can adequately evaluate, permit and plan for these types of facilities because, right now, data centers are not clearly defined by our city code,” Council President Wardine Alexander said. “We want to be able to protect our residents, and our planning and permitting process needs to reflect that.

“Today, we heard all kinds of valid concerns, whether it’s noise, power usage, water usage or environmental issues. This moratorium allows us to put zoning regulations and processes in place to adequately address the issues that were raised today as we move forward,” Alexander said.

As the use of artificial intelligence and cloud computing have proliferated, so has the need for ever-larger data centers. These new, massive server warehouses are often called hyperscale centers, and they use substantial energy resources.

City officials had told the council that such hyperscale centers use anywhere from 200 to 700 megawatts of electricity. A single megawatt can power 1,000 residential homes.

The measure approved Tuesday prohibits the permitting of any data center using more than 20 megawatts.

During the 180-day suspension, the city will review and evaluate how data centers should be defined, categorized and regulated. Throughout the moratorium period, the city will not accept or act on applications for permits, site plan approvals, business licenses or other approvals related to new or expanded data centers.

The suspension of permits does not apply to developments that have already started the permitting process with the city. According to officials, there are currently two projects that are exempt — the expansion of DC Blox and the new development of the Nebius AI Factory on the Lakeshore Parkway corridor.

Several residents who spoke at the hearing expressed their opposition specifically to the Nebius project.

“When you consider these things please — with the same amount of energy and importance — consider us,” said Rob Sansome, who lives on Sydney Trail near Lakeshore Parkway. “We’re the people that you’re supposed to represent in our city and I applaud you all for the wonderful leadership you give us, but this is an area we really need to get a handle on before we do anything else.”