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The Jefferson County Commission on Thursday will receive guidance from County Attorney Theo Lawson to make it clear to residents that hyperscale data centers are not coming to unincorporated parts of the county before regulations are in place.
Developmental Services Director Josh Johnson gave commissioners an update of his department’s efforts to draft an ordinance to govern the building of data centers.
“We’re looking at a holistic approach to this,” Johnson said. “The complaints you’re hearing about data centers — right or wrong — are very wide and diverse. What we need is a very holistic approach that answers the right questions so we can make an informed recommendation to you all.”
Commission President Jimmie Stephens followed that presentation with a proposal to enact a moratorium on data centers until the plan is finalized. Commissioner Lashunda Scales immediately seconded the motion.
County Manager Cal Markert said the county already has a “de facto moratorium” since the county’s land use plan must be updated to address data centers. Stephens and Scales said they want more.
“We don’t want de facto,” she said. Stephens said a moratorium “clears it up while we’re working on this.”
The subsequent discussion expanded to heavy industrial development, not just data centers. Commissioners Joe Knight and Mike Bolin expressed concern that a moratorium could stymie development at the JeffMet McCalla industrial park. Stephens questioned whether the proposed action could impact planned expansion at U.S. Steel.
Commissioners noted that a number of municipalities had established moratoriums on data centers, including one Homewood passed Monday night. Birmingham also had a moratorium while it developed regulations for data centers, which councilors adopted two weeks ago.
Lawson said he will prepare something for the commission’s consideration at Thursday’s meeting.
“Everybody understands the concerns that people have with data centers,” the county attorney said. “We’re in a good position now that we don’t have any slated data centers coming forward. It’s a great opportunity for the commission and staff to look at the concerns and the appropriateness of location and resources and that kind of thing to develop.
“The county already is in a situation where if we were to have an application for a data center, we don’t have things in place to move forward with it anyway,” Lawson continued. “Certainly, I understand the aspect of trying to make it clear to the citizens that we’re not going to be looking at one. That’s kind of where we are, to ensure that citizens understand that there’s not going to be any data center, any new data centers in unincorporated Jefferson County until we can put together the necessary framework for that.”
The county attorney said he just wants to make sure the commission acts correctly, considering all aspects of the matter.
“We’ve got some good models from here and what citizens have said in other areas,” he said. “That’s all, just to make sure that we do it correctly.”
In another matter, the commission sent to the agenda of Thursday’s meeting a resolution supporting the Friends of Shades Mountain’s efforts to preserve the Hale Springs property by applying for conservation funding and related preservation initiatives.
