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Data center vested rights and pending permits

At a glance

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

  • What: which data center projects the new zoning rules or a pause could reach, given which are already built or in the permit pipeline and when property rights vest.
  • Where it stands: at the 10/8/2026 hearing council attorney Alan Wade and Planning Director Ragsdale said new rules and any moratorium apply to new projects only. Two sites are in the pipeline and no others have been announced.
  • Next: MLGW is the first stop for new proposals, so its president McGowan may say what is coming; he was invited to a later hearing.

What was said

  • Ragsdale: the only sites in the pipeline are the original plant on Paul R. Lowry Road (with a public expansion of about 300,000 square feet) and the former Fred's headquarters site on Getwell. McGowan had told him three or four more could follow in four to five months, after they secure power.
  • Wade: existing operations and projects already in the permit process are not affected. Once a firm makes a substantial investment under a permit and no review process exists, its rights vest; Tennessee Supreme Court precedent makes it hard to stop them.
  • Time-limited special use permits, renewals or restart reviews are not permitted because they interfere with property rights. Conditions run with the land, including a cessation or reclamation plan requiring removal of obsolete equipment.
  • Carlisle asked how vesting works on land already zoned industrial; Wade said a buyer after a review process is in place must go through it.
  • White asked whether pending expansions could be paused; the answer was no.

Sources

Discussion time

About 16 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-08 - Planning & Zoning (2) 16

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