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Data center legislation hearing series

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.

  • What: a series of Planning & Zoning Committee hearings on data center ordinance standards and implementation. The stated purpose is to reconcile the pending data center proposals into one framework covering community protection, siting, water, power, air quality, public cost, fiscal return, community agreements, planned development districts and a permanent Memphis Shelby County infrastructure authority.
  • Where it stands: hearing No. 2 was held Monday, 10/19/2026, on community and environmental protections (noise, water, air quality, neighborhood infrastructure). The first hearing, earlier in October, covered the consolidated ordinances as written and was before a fall break.
  • Next: more sessions are listed at 1:00 PM on October 22, October 26 and October 29. Committee action on the ordinances was set for 10/20/2026.

Hearing No. 2 (10/19/2026)

  • Present at the start: Warren, White and Logan (by video); Walker, Canale and Swearengen-Washington joined. Spinosa led the hearing. Guests were from the University of Memphis, MLGW and the Shelby County Health Department.
  • White asked for time before the next day's vote to work through how the five pending ordinances overlap. Logan understood the hearing as a separate forum for experts; Spinosa agreed and said the direction discussion would be in committee the next day.
  • Warren said the city has no mechanism to charge data centers for their disruption without state law changes, and that enabling legislation to request that from the state is time sensitive and separate from any moratorium.
  • Spinosa said council attorney Alan Wade was away representing the council and that a joint city and county ordinance on testing might be worth considering.

Hearing No. 1 (10/8/2026)

  • Special-called committee session while the October 6 council meeting was still in recess. Spinosa read the focus: review all held data center ordinances and the existing zoning framework with Planning and Development and council attorney Alan Wade, and build one consolidated piece of legislation in public. About 2 hours 5 minutes; no votes.
  • Schedule given at the close: October 19 (community and environmental protections with MLGW, TVA, the health department, TDEC and experts), October 22 (community voices), October 27 as captioned (community benefits and economic growth), 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
  • Walker said the process was rushed and should have started months earlier; Carlisle questioned whether explanatory hearings delay a vote, and Wade said both can run in parallel.

Sources

Discussion time

About 23 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-19 - Planning & Zoning 9
2026-10-08 - Planning & Zoning (2) 14

Log