Mayor Wamp proposes one-year moratorium on rural data centers in Hamilton County

From Local 3 News: UPDATE: Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp announced a one-year moratorium on data centers in the county's rural areas Tuesday, saying officials need time to plan intentionally before allowing the facilities to move in.

Wamp said that the pause will give the county time to study the technology and make sure data centers aren't a “technological fad.”

Over the next year, Wamp said the county plans to meet with utility providers and the community to talk through concerns about power and water demand. He said the goal is to be proactive rather than reactive.

"It doesn't feel right to me that in a rush to build data centers all over America, we should ruin a beautiful, rural part of Hamilton County," Wamp said. Wamp said the county wants to learn from other communities that moved too quickly on similar projects, mentioning Nashville several times.

Wamp pointed to growing frustration among residents in the county's rural areas, where he said people often feel their voices haven't been heard.

"I'd rather these data centers not come to Hamilton County," Wamp said. “We think they need to go in rural Alabama."

"We need to play chess rather than checkers," Dist. 9 Commissioner Dr. Steve Highlander said, adding that he wants to avoid inflationary costs or water quality issues. He said he's hoping for a non-partisan perspective on the issue over the next year.

"Parts that have been rural for 200-plus years should remain rural," Wamp said.

The moratorium will not affect a small data center already approved for the former Hamilton County Jail building, which sits within Chattanooga city limits. Wamp described the project as a basement space and said it's too small to cause a major impact in the area.

The latest proposal in the approved Jailhouse Studios redevelopment plan caps the included data center at 12,000 square feet.

Local 3 also reached out to Mayor Wamp’s opponent in the mayoral race, Mark Herndon, for his stance on data centers.

Herndon said, in part, “While I applaud Mayor Wamp for taking a step in the right direction in support of a temporary data center moratorium, a one-year moratorium falls short. This is a politically advantageous thing to announce during a re-election campaign, but it is simply kicking the can down the street.”

He added that he supports longer-term moratoriums to allow time for what he called “full due diligence,” warning that development could cause irreversible environmental harm.
Herndon also called for greater transparency, independent economic and environmental reviews, limits on incentives, and stronger conflict-of-interest safeguards in future data center decisions.

He concluded that while he supports guardrails and accountability, he believes a longer runway than one year is necessary to fully address community concerns.

Wamp will present the moratorium proposal to Hamilton County Commissioners tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1.


PREVIOUS STORY: Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday morning regarding data centers in rural Hamilton County.

Commissioner Steve Highlander of District 9 will be joining Wamp. District 9 contains most of Harrison and Birchwood, bordering Collegedale.

Local 3 News will livestream the announcement, starting at 10:00am.