Ala. (WBMA) — Montevallo is working to establish new zoning rules for data centers before a developer ever proposes building one in the city
Councilor David King told the City Council Monday that the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission is working to define data centers in Montevallo’s zoning regulations and make them a conditional use in areas zoned M-1 light industrial.
King said that designation would ensure any future proposal receives additional scrutiny rather than being automatically permitted based on the property’s zoning.
“To place an item in conditional use means that it has to have additional review before it could ever come to fruition,” King said.
King stressed that the work is not being prompted by a pending development.
“We don’t have that on the horizon,” King said. “Nobody has approached us about doing that.”
Instead, city leaders are trying to establish the rules before they are faced with an application.
“We are taking the steps of making sure that we just clarify the book,” King said. “Periodically you gotta update stuff for the things that are coming, hot topics.”
Looking to other Shelby County communities
King said Montevallo’s approach is similar to steps being taken by other communities in Shelby County and by Shelby County itself.
The city is working with Shelby County Development Services as officials develop the proposed zoning language.
“We are taking advantage of borrowing, there’s a big brain trust all around Shelby County for how we’re gonna put the language together,” King said.
Data centers have increasingly become a development issue for local governments as communities weigh potential economic investment against concerns about how large facilities could affect surrounding areas and infrastructure.
King specifically identified noise, power consumption, water consumption and natural re centers
But Montevallo is not proposing to prohibit them.
King said the city wants its regulations to provide additional safeguards while leaving open the possibility that changes in technology could make a data center appropriate for Montevallo in the future.
“We’re writing it in such a way that it doesn’t block it completely because we don’t know what technology is going to do in the next few years,” King said.
King said technological advances could eventually reduce some of the impacts communities are concerned about.
“There may be a time in the future where that makes sense for our community in a certain area,” King said. “Right now, I don’t believe that it does.”
City wants protections in place first
King said other cities have turned to moratoriums while determining how to handle data center development. He said Montevallo already has site reviews, public hearings and other requirements that would apply if someone submitted a proposal before the new language is adopted.
“All we’re doing is putting more steps in place,” King said.
He said the goal is to give both current and future city leaders clear tools for evaluating any eventual proposal.
“We’re putting the protections in place so that not only us but P&Z boards and councils behind us will have what I feel are the appropriate tools to review what’s right for the community at that time,” King said.
The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to meet Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. King said the commission is currently working through the process of defining data centers and establishing the proposed conditional-use requirements.
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