Counties Seek Wider Zoning Debate as Data Centers Spread

Alabama’s data center boom is forcing County leaders to confront a much larger question: Who should control growth beyond city limits?

Most County Commissions in Alabama have little or no power to regulate land use in unincorporated areas. That leaves them unable to stop — or even pause — many large projects when residents raise concerns about power costs, water use, noise, pollution or nearby homes.

Now, the Association of County Commissions of Alabama is calling on State leaders to begin a wider debate over County planning and zoning powers.

The group, which represents all 67 Counties, voted without dissent to oppose giving Counties special zoning power over data centers alone. Instead, it wants the Alabama Legislature to consider a broad plan for land use in unincorporated areas.

“County Commissions understand the importance of addressing the concerns of the citizens they serve while operating within the authority granted to them by state law,” ACCA Executive Director Sonny Brasfield said. “Granting planning and zoning authority for a single industry raises practical and constitutional concerns.”

“Rather than pursuing an industry-specific approach, counties believe a broader conversation is needed about how County governments can effectively support strategic and productive growth in Alabama’s unincorporated areas,” Brasfield added.

The debate comes as public resistance to data centers grows across Alabama. Cities have tightened zoning rules, while residents in rural counties have asked local leaders to block or delay projects near their homes.

County officials often cannot comply.

“But in Alabama, our governmental structure only allows County governments to carry out the responsibilities that the legislature has specifically granted to the County commission,” Brasfield told WAFF 48. “And with just two or three limited circumstances around the State, most Counties, in fact, more than 60 of the 67, have absolutely no authority out in the unincorporated area to tell a landowner what they can and cannot do with their land.”

Alabama Counties lack the broad “home rule” powers found in many other States. Their Commissions may exercise only those powers granted by the Legislature or the State Constitution.

Even the Alabama Limited Self-Governance Act, which gives Counties some power to address weeds, junkyards, litter, animal nuisances, noise, sewage and pollution, specifically states that it does not grant general zoning or land-use authority.

That limit has become far more important as developers seek rural sites for data centers. Such projects need large tracts of land, huge amounts of electricity and, in some cases, vast volumes of water for cooling.

The sites can also bring billions of dollars in private investment. Yet their long-term job totals are often modest when compared with their size and cost.

As ALPolitics.com recently reported, Meta’s planned Montgomery data center grew from an estimated $800 million project to more than $1.5 billion, while its expected permanent workforce remained at slightly more than 100. Meta’s Huntsville campus represents another $1.5 billion in investment and is expected to support more than 300 operating jobs.

The proposed Project Marvel campus in Bessemer could cost about $14.5 billion and include 18 large buildings. Recent reports have placed its permanent workforce at roughly 330 employees. The project could require as much as one gigawatt of electricity — roughly enough to serve 1 million homes.

Data centers provide vital support for cloud storage, banking, hospitals, online services and artificial intelligence. They also create well-paid construction work and can expand the local tax base.

Still, their power use has become one of the public’s chief concerns.

Vice President JD Vance addressed that point Monday before traveling to Michigan.

“I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and higher electricity for the people on the ground,” Vance told reporters. “If you build the data center, you should be putting power back into the grid, not taking it out.”

Other concerns include noise from cooling systems, emissions from backup diesel generators, heavy water demand and the cost of new power lines, roads and utility systems.

Those fears are not confined to communities hosting the sites. A proposed data center in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, has stirred concern among North Alabama residents who live downstream along Shoal Creek. Residents and environmental groups have called for closer study of water use, runoff, generator emissions and round-the-clock noise.

Cities have far more room to respond.

In June, Birmingham adopted 20 conditions for future hyperscale data centers. The rules include a 500-foot setback from residential and urban neighborhood districts, closed-loop cooling systems, water conservation plans and sound studies.

The ordinance also bars gas turbines and the continuous use of diesel generators for onsite power. Developers must disclose expected electrical demand and notify nearby property owners by certified mail.

County governments cannot adopt the same type of broad rules without new authority from Montgomery.

Lowndes County brought that divide into sharp focus after residents protested Project Red Clay, a proposed $1.5 billion hyperscale data center. The County Commission voted in August to support legislation giving it planning and zoning power, but such authority would still require action by state lawmakers.

The ACCA does not want the Legislature to respond by giving Counties narrow power over data centers while leaving them unable to deal with similar disputes involving quarries, solar farms, large factories or other major projects.

“If the Legislature were to consider giving counties land use authority to stop data centers, we would be opposed to that,” Brasfield told Alabama Daily News. “We’re not opposed to having discussions about having comprehensive land use powers in the unincorporated areas, but we don’t want the Legislature to single out one industry and tell counties they can regulate that industry and the use of property for that industry.”

That wider debate will not be easy.

Zoning can protect homes, farms and taxpayers from poorly placed industrial projects. It can also limit what property owners may do with their own land. Any statewide plan would have to balance those rights while avoiding a maze of local rules that could drive away sound investment.

For now, County Commissioners are caught between angry residents and a State government that gives them few tools to act.

The data center fight exposed that gap. The larger issue is whether Alabama will fill it — and how much control rural communities should have over the growth taking place outside their doors.

The ACCA’s resolution on unincorporated areas is attached below: