Morristown City Council passes data center ordinance
On a vote of 6-1, Morristown City Council passed their data center ordinance. Joe Senter was the lone "NO" vote. Voting "YES" was Chesney, Ahearn, Bivens, Garrett, Pedigo and Kay Senter.
In spite of several citizens encouraging them to enact a moratorium on data center permits, they decided to go ahead and put these weak regulations into effect with the stipulation that the city administrator and the planning department come back in December with stricter guidelines.
The current ordinance says that data centers must be zoned HI, be 500 feet from a school, residence, or government building, in an enclosed building and use on review. Under the TN vested property rights act this means once a developer submits an application, then it is good for 3 years from the date of submission. Any developer who submits an application before the changes at the December meeting only has to follow the original guidelines. There are no restrictions on noise, water or electric usage, generator testing and emissions, or decommissioning requirements. These are just a few of the things that need to be considered.
12 cities and 17 counties in TN have enacted moratoriums on data center permits. They realize that it will take longer than 2 months to come up with strong, enforceable regulations. Tommy Pedigo said that a moratorium would just be "kicking the can down the road". Mayor Chesney said that data centers are a profitable "money-maker" for our utility system. As I told them, "A moratorium is not a ban. It is a responsible timeout to carefully study the issues".
I guess we will have to wait and see how the November election turns out and what new changes are brought by the planning commission to the December meeting.
Council seats being voted on at November election
Ward 1 Bob Garrett (not running for re-election)
Ward 3 Kay Senter (incumbent unopposed)
At Large Tommy Pedigo (incumbent running against Kelly Voccola Lynam)