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The Homewood City Council on Monday night passed an ordinance that established a temporary moratorium on data centers in the city.
“It's so that we can go ahead and have protection from a permit being filed for, say, a hyperscale data center in the city,” Mayor Pro Tempore Nick Sims said. “At the current time, our zoning regulations do not put that in an appropriate place or have restrictions related to its construction.
The city has no pending applications for a data center, but city officials said the moratorium gives them time to study this emerging land use and determine whether specific zoning, operational, buffering, infrastructure or other development standards should be adopted before such facilities are considered in Homewood.
The review will focus on infrastructure capacity, utility demands, compatibility with surrounding land uses, and preserving Homewood's character and quality of life, city officials said in a written statement. Any proposed regulations will be considered through the City's normal public review process, providing opportunities for residents, businesses and property owners to participate.
The moratorium is not intended to oppose economic development or technological investment, the city’s statement said. ”Rather, it reflects Homewood's commitment to responsible growth, sound planning and ensuring that future development aligns with the long-term interests of the community.”
Sims said the council has been transparent about its concerns. “We had a conversation two weeks ago at pre-council about potentially considering a moratorium,” he said. “If somebody watched that and then we didn't take action this evening, that would already be almost a six-week time span between originally discussing it and potentially adopting some type of protection. That timeframe is significant, even though there's not a high number of properties in Homewood that would be conducive for such a site.”
Sims emphasized that Monday night’s action was not a permanent prohibition of data centers.
“This will provide adequate time to evaluate the potential impact and develop appropriate regulations through a deliberate and transparent process,” he said.
In other business Monday night, the City Council acknowledged it is in agreement with a plan to improve access points along U.S. 31 and will provide its share of funding for the project, which amounts to $1.36 million.
“They (the Alabama Department of Transportation) selected the low bidder,” City Engineer Amy Zari said. “Basically, we're concurring with that selection. They'll move on to the contract portion of that, but they need our letter of concurrence and basically our commitment to fund our portion before moving forward.”
In other action, the council:
- Appointed Morgan Miciak to the Ward 2 position on the city’s Environmental Commission
- Rezoned 2773 and 2777 BM Montgomery Street from a C-2 neighborhood shopping district to a C-4 central business district to allow for renovations and reuse of the property as a health fitness center
- Set a public hearing for July 27 to consider whether to declare property at 405 Woodvale Lane a public nuisance
- Conducted a public hearing on a request for the city to vacate a portion of an unnamed alley adjacent to 200 Virginia Drive. A separate public hearing was conducted for a portion of public right of way consisting of a 20-foot alley between 115 Morris Blvd. and 117 Morris Blvd. The council will vote on these matters at a later meeting.
- Heard a first reading of an ordinance establishing requirements for the adoption of ordinances approving any change to the annual budget
- Heard a first reading of an ordinance regarding the Historic Preservation Commission.
- Agreed to allow property owners to plant trees in the right of way in the landscape strip at 101, 102, 103 and 105 Ventura Avenue
Sims announced that City Hall will be closed on Friday, July 3. He added that the Independence Day celebration will begin at 5 p.m. on July 4 with the Thunder On The Mountain fireworks display beginning at 9 p.m.
The next regular meeting of the Homewood City Council is on Monday, July 13.
