Data Center Zoning Ordinance Amendments

I plan on offering a number of amendments. I will hand out hard copies of this upon arrival. Also, Commissioner Jackson requested to be a cosponsor on this.

Here are the proposed amendments:

I have several amendments I plan on making for this Resolution/Proposed Ordinance.

*The first amendment I plan to make appears in the proposed ordinance itself in Section 3, XXX-XX – Data centers in Data Center Accessory Uses, Subsection A. The language in this paragraph should read as follows:

Data Centers shall be permitted by conditional use in the “Data Centers” Zoning District when approved in compliance with the procedures, standards, and criteria contained in this section.

*The Second Amendment I plan to make is to add an additional provision to Section 2, and to clarify what is being proposed for §5.62.

The language in this paragraph should read as follows:

Section 2. Part II Appendix A Article 5 of the Code of Knox County, Tennessee, entitled Zone Regulations is amended to add “§5.62, Data Centers Zoning District.”
§5.62 Data Centers Zoning District. Data Center and Data Center Accessory Uses shall be permitted by conditional use in Data Centers zones only for any of the following situations: a) a single Data Center of greater than 10 MW capacity; b) any combination of Data Centers equaling a 10 MW capacity or more within a single acre of land; c) any Data Center or Data Center Accessory Use that exceeds consumption of 20,000 gallons of water per day; d) any Data Center in which the processing capacities are either unknown or the lessor, owner, or owners refuse to provide electric demand capacity, under oath, to the Knoxville/Knox County Planning Commission and the Knox County Board of Commissioners.
*The Third Amendment I plan to make is to G Water and Super, ¶ 3, subparagraph a. to address capacity of water. It should read:
Water withdrawals of 20,000 gallons per day (GPD) or more over a 30-day average from any source or combination of sources within the Tennessee River Basin
*The Fourth Amendment I plan to make is to correct a typo found in G Water and Super, ¶ 4. The sentence reads, “Furthermore, the shall demonstrate that adequate means . . . ” This sentence should read:
Furthermore, the applicant shall demonstrate that adequate means of cooling wastewater to the ambient temperature of the Tennessee River or any other body of water have been provided and approved by the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation.

The Fifth Amendment I plan to make is to the resolution. I like to offer the following additional language to the Resolution, and make these two clauses the third and second to last paragraphs in the resolution:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission shall place this resolution on its agenda for June 2026.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that until the Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission renders a recommendation and the Knox County commission has had an opportunity to act on the recommendation, Knox County shall place a moratorium on the construction of any new facility, or expansion of any current facility that would fall under the definition of Data Center or Data Center Accessory Use. This moratorium shall be undertaken by refraining from issuing any excavation permit, construction permit, or refraining from any inspection of construction.