Data center moratorium ordinance

At a glance

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

What: an ordinance (item 19) for an 18 month moratorium on data center applications while the city studies impacts and writes rules, with community engagement, siting away from schools and neighborhoods, and zoning and traffic protections. Sponsors: Councilmembers Green, Smiley, Easter-Thomas and the chair; it has been before the council since August 18, 2026.
Where it stands: failed on 10/20/2026, on what the captions render as a 6 to 6 split, after about two hours of public comment mostly in favor.
Next: advocates said they will keep asking; the council meanwhile passed Data center development standards ordinance (Ordinance 5986).

10/8/2026 (general comment at the end of the recessed meeting): about fifteen cards, nearly all for a pause, with 90 days, one year and longer periods mentioned. Speakers said zoning rules cannot be done in 45 days, cited other Tennessee jurisdictions with moratoria, and raised air quality, water, power costs and heat. The chair said letters went out after the chaotic October 6 meeting and asked for a professional meeting; a speaker called blanket letters a chilling effect. Spinosa said experts would be brought in on heat distribution and data monitoring.
Dozens of speakers addressed the moratorium and Item 18 together, a large majority urging a pause. Themes: air and water near existing xAI sites in South Memphis and Boxtown, the Memphis Sand Aquifer, asthma and cancer, noise, power costs, no community input so far, unpaid community benefit promises, and repeated delays since early August.
Several speakers compared Memphis with Millington, which they said had passed a moratorium the week before, and some asked for at least a nine month pause and joint city and county review. A few urged a more moderate course of standards without a blanket pause.
Speakers objected to how the council treated the disruption on October 6, to new language on public comment cards, and to Item 18 being offered as a late substitute.
Houston, who leads a water protection group, argued a pause helps rather than ends the work, citing the earlier pipeline fight and wellhead protection zoning.

A motion to hold Item 19 got no second. White said she supports a pause and study but would vote for Ordinance 5986 as the vehicle. Logan said the council's real authority is land use, the zoning rules should be settled first, and every moratorium needs an exit plan.
Green, Smiley and others argued the substitute was rushed and lacked community engagement.

No: Carlisle and White. Yes: Easter-Thomas, Green, Walker and the chair. Other votes were not clearly heard. The motion failed.

At the first data center hearing, council attorney Alan Wade said a moratorium must be reasonable in time and not a de facto prohibition, and is safest when it protects a legislative process under way. A limited pause until the zoning ordinance takes effect could be added by amending Ordinance 5987 or by resolution; none can reach projects already in progress.
Spinosa said his own ordinance (indefinite moratorium) would expire December 31, 2026. Smiley proposed trimming Ordinance 5982 to a pause lasting until Ordinance 5987 passes and asked about slowing new, non-vested projects; Warren and Walker argued a moratorium would not stop existing work and that firms still face a power and permit process anywhere.
No vote was taken; the full council voted on the moratorium 10/20/2026.

About 191 minutes across 3 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

2026-10-08 - Planning & Zoning (2) — Committee hearing No. 1: Wade on legal limits, a pause tied to Ordinance 5987, Smiley and Warren exchange; no vote.
2026-10-20 - Memphis City Council — Failed after about two hours of public comment; roll call only partly audible.
2026-10-08 - Memphis City Council — About 30 minutes of general public comment on 10/8/2026, nearly all urging a pause (90 days versus one year was discussed); no vote taken. Speakers also questioned letters sent to attendees after the October 6 disruption.
2026-10-06 - City Council Committees - Discussed with an expert presentation on turbine air pollution; no committee vote noted.
2026-10-06 - Memphis City Council - Third reading debated; the hold of items 19, 20, 21 and 31 to a working session passed 7 to 5 and the meeting recessed amid protest.
2026-09-15 - City Council Committees - Amended temporary moratorium held to October 6.