Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

there you go okay it is four o'clock may the 26 2026 this is the coffee county planning commission meeting i'm going to now call the meeting to order we have several people in the audience four i can count i can do that pretty good we will move on to public comments I didn't see you sitting over there. Sorry, yes. Our mayor has some comments.

thank you mr chairman i think i made it very public that i was going to address this planning commission this evening regarding data centers the uh i've been getting so many emails uh social media tagging me as the county mayor regarding uh data centers and the language and the words that we're seeing in the media and on social media and the news media and all that, it's almost like we're living in a science fiction movie. We're hearing crypto mining, data mining, data centers, A1 data, and Multiple governments have been addressing this. So the purpose of my little presentation tonight is just request that we start the process this evening. When you guys get to the other section of the agenda, I would like for you guys to consider a moratorium. I'm suggesting 180 days, that's six months. We have to firstly define all of these terminologies that we are hearing on the news. This issue is not local. It's not only in this county, it's in this state, it's nationwide, it's actually probably gonna be a global issue the artificial intelligence industry the we have to look at our zoning resolution and we have So Anyway, I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep talking the the We're lucky if I've stated on some of my little videos that you guys watch where there's 95 counties in the state of Tennessee only 48 of those counties have Countywide zoning coffee counties lucky enough to be one of those 48. So we do have we do have the ability to control undesirable land uses but as I've stated I've said at this Planning Commission table for many many years that and went through many, many hours of training. And what I've always been told is that we cannot zone out any legal activity, that we must have a place for all legal activities. Having said that, there are enough, we can apply restrictions and that's what this body's gonna be charged with. We have a professional planter Amanda Reinhart, who I've employed nearly two years ago, she has worked up a draft resolution. It is not for public consumption yet. I've handed the chairman a copy. I have a copy. I will be getting nine pages, a very comprehensive zoning resolution amendment for data centers. So I will be sharing this with each one of you. I just didn't have time. I just got it today, just this afternoon. So anyway, when I get seven copies of nine pages each, everybody will get one. And then you guys start taking notes. And hopefully by your next meeting, you'll be ready to come up with some specifics. I think we gotta address the language, we gotta address the definitions, we gotta address the placement. And as I had pointed out on some of my public social media comments, our zoning resolution right now, we do have easily interpret the A1 district, the permitted use number six, actually would, I think, encompass data centers. We need to change that. I don't think this is something that we can allow to stand. We need to look at decibels, water supply, power consumption, all of those stuff. The moratorium, you know, some people, we've got to be sure the moratorium has some teeth to it. There's the pending legislation doctrine that I'm not sure the courts fully embrace anymore, but it's something I like to think about. We're gonna stop you from doing something while we decide to see how we gonna stop you from doing something forever. That's what it's all about. Vested interest. If somebody had already been in here asking for a zoning compliance certificate for one of these centers, we would be in trouble. So we have to get on top of this. We have to do it really, really fast. The draft resolution that I have in front of you is something that would be secondary. Tonight I'm asking you guys to discuss what you want to do with a moratorium. I want you guys to make a recommendation, an official recommendation that will be, I will place it on the agenda for our next full county legislative body meeting. that will make it an official moratorium. Yours is be a recommendation. So having said that, you guys, when you get to it on the agenda, please take it seriously, because it is a very serious subject. And I think the moratorium, for whatever length, I'm suggesting six months, put together the language and the zoning amendment that I feel like takes care of this issue. And having said that, I appreciate your time.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Any other public comment? If not, we will move on to the approval of the agenda.

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda.

I have a motion for Ms. Laura Nettles to approve the agenda. I'll have a second. I'll have a second. I have a second from Randy Harrell. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, we'll move on to approval of the previous minutes. If you've had time to read them, they were a little bit lengthy this time. If you've had time to read them, I will entertain a motion to approve.

I'll make a motion to approve.

I have a motion from Ms. Ana Gonzalez to approve the previous minutes. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

I have a second from Ms. Laura Nettles. Any discussion on the previous minutes? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. This is my favorite thing, bond review. None. None, okay. I knew the answer to that before I asked. First item on the agenda. is the rezoning request A1 to C2, 12-541 Murfreesboro Highway, map 022, parcel 006.04. Mr. Chad Hillis.

I've never done this before, so y'all just have to bear with me. I'm just wanting to rezone it to get the most use out of it. I'm probably going to build some storage buildings, something like that there. It's right behind my office. There's plenty of room to have access, you know, two driveways on 41, so an entrance and an exit.

You do realize you'll have to come in off of 41 Highway? Yes. Okay. One other question. You realize once you go to C2, you can't come back? Right. Okay, you're aware of that? Okay.

Is the cabinet shop to the left or right of you?

It's to the, if you're looking at it, it'd be to the left of me.

So he's already got a commercial business right beside him. Yeah. He's right on the edge of the pink of the C1 there. Mm-hmm.

Well, it's not very far out of Beach Grove. So I guess the mile and a half and it's almost two. So you're right at the edge of a planned growth area also.

I make a motion. We approve it.

Thank you, Rodney. I have a motion from Rodney Duncan to approve this rezoning.

Can I say something just real quick? Yes. I'm going to withstand from

voting on this because chad and myself are cousins he might not have won i know that well i'm sure he didn't but but i just don't want any i just don't understand from it okay uh randy harrell's abstaining uh i have a motion do i have a second i'll second i have a second from ms anna gonzalez any more discussion All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Thank you.

Good luck.

Okay. We're going on to other questions.

Some things I'd like to say about the other. Do what? Some things I'd like to say about the other and the data centers. Okay. I just heard the other day Knox County, I believe, has made their planning and zones pass the thing that data centers would not be allowed to connect to their electricity, their public utilities, and their electricity, which means they'd have to build their own energy source, which I think is good. I literally read today on Channel 2 News that TVA's looking at raising rates because 18% of their power is already going to current data centers. And third, they need tons of water, and we're already trying to protect the duck and we've already got small water lines. So if somebody could get in touch with Knox County, I think working with them and figure out how they pulled that off, and I'd also like to add they can't connect to our public water. Now, Woods Reservoir was built as a radiator for the wind tunnel. And if they, well, no, but if they want a data center, they're going to have to build their own lake for their own radiator and not hook to our public water and take out the duct, obviously, because it's being protected. I agree. So those are two things I think we should look at and maybe contact somebody with that county and say, how did you get this passed and how do we do it? Is that the same thing we already got?

Same thing you got.

Okay. Also, is 180 days the max you're allowed to do that? No, and he and I had this discussion, and I think we need to go a year.

I think 12 months to one year would probably be, it's going to take a while to hammer all that out and get it.

And things are changing as we go. That's the problem, folks, is this is coming on to us pretty fast. We need to get informed of the pros and cons. And Mr. Duncan pointed out some cons. I haven't been able to find many pros, but I'm sure there's one or two out there.

And we need to discuss them, too.

We need to do a complete job on this.

And they don't even really bring in that many jobs to your county. They just suck all your resources. The AI pretty much runs their data. That's right.

The question I have, and I know the answer to it, and so does the mayor, and that is, do we have any oversight on state and federal lands? And I can't find anywhere that we do have. But I would like some folks to research that while we're doing this. Because obviously, the two most prominent sites would be our mega-site, and... Well, the mega-site was built to promise jobs.

The data center's not gonna bring us jobs.

That's right. That's true. We've got, and the mayor made mention of this, we are taught that you have to have a place for everything. And if you don't have a place for everything, you can get in trouble. However, you can make it so tough for somebody to be here. And I don't know whether we need to set that as a goal, but we certainly need to do some of the things that Rodney was talking about, and there are other things.

Well, when it came to the solar, Anastasia did a great job of making solar look a whole lot happier somewhere else than it would be here.

That's right, and that's kind of what we want to do with this. And one of the things nobody ever mentions is the air and the noise pollution. Now, I grew up when AEDC was doing a lot of testing, and I lived a long ways from there, but we could hear.