The plan to build a $14 billion data center in a rural community southwest of Birmingham is moving forward again.
Bessemer’s planning and zoning commission on Tuesday afternoon voted to rezone the project submitted by Logistics Land Investment, LLC to develop a property with nearly 700 acres of mostly timber land into 18 data center buildings.
“This is wrong,” said resident Ron Morgan, during the meeting. “There are industrial parks in this city already set up for this madness.”
Roughly 50 people attended the meeting inside Bessemer City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, many of them voicing concerns about noise, traffic and environmental impacts, and questioning how the project would benefit the McCalla community.
The eight-member commission approved a change to the city’s zoning ordinance to allow data centers for industrial use. Then, the commission voted on the developer’s request that’s drawn public scrutiny: to rezone the property from agricultural to industrial use and make way for the project.
The decision was met with a clamor of frustration from the residents.
“They’ve already made up their freaking minds,” one resident called out from the audience.
This is the second time the data center project has come before the commission. They approved the developer’s plan this spring, but a few residents sued, prompting a re-do.
Martin Evans, a Birmingham attorney representing the developer, said that their plans have pushed the buildings further back from the property lines, and he added that just 100 acres of the property would be developed.
“This project is turning a large tract of raw land close to the interstate and putting it to a productive use, which creates jobs,” Evans told the commission. “It’s going to be a catalyst for the local economy, and it’s going to provide tremendous tax benefits to the city. Our site plan shows that this will be done with minimal impacts on any adjacent properties.”
In April, three locals sued the city, alleging officials didn’t provide the proper public notice about the rezoning. They also raised concerns about Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley saying he signed a non-disclosure agreement and couldn’t discuss the project with the public. Shan Paden, an attorney for Bessemer, told AL.com at the time that the city never violated the law and provided adequate public notice.
But, then the city restarted the public hearing process.
Jefferson County Judge David Hobdy in Bessemer has since put the city’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, as well as the residents’ request for the project’s documents, on hold until Aug. 7.
There haven’t been any updates in the lawsuit since April, according to the court docket.
The commission’s vote only counts as a recommendation. The next step in the process for the project requires Bessemer City Council approval to move forward.
Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens, who identified himself as a lifelong resident of Bessemer, urged the commission to slow down the project.
“All I ask for you to do is to listen to the concerns of the citizens, act as I do, as we are all commanded to do, in their best interest, without harming the city of Bessemer,” Stephens said at the meeting. “From what I see on this, it’s just not right for these folks. It’s just not right.”
The proposed data center would include 18 buildings, each about 250,000 square feet, on rural land owned by a timber land property owner on Rock Mountain Lake Road, the Birmingham Business Journal reported. The developer is proposing the $14 billion project as a 4.5 million-square-foot campus, BBJ reported. It would take roughly seven years to build.
The developer lists an Atlanta address and phone number linked to commercial real estate firm TPA Group in the project plans. Brad Kaaber presented the site plan during the meeting, introducing himself as a representative from Logistics Land Investment. His LinkedIn page lists him as a commercial real estate developer in Atlanta with TPA Group.
“If there was actually concerns on this site, we wouldn’t be developing on it,” Kaaber told the commission.
He added that the company had prepared environmental site assessments, a cultural study, a threatened and endangered species assessments and others for the site. One commissioner asked for a copy; it did not appear that members of the commission had those prior to the meeting.
Data center development is a growing industry, seeking to keep up with an increase in cloud computing demands. But they’re newer to Alabama, as the industry is picking up speed here in more rural parts of the state as well as Huntsville, Montgomery and Birmingham.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the commission did not vote on the developer’s request to rezone the property. The story has been updated and corrected.
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