Data centers, landfills top Metro Council agenda

9:50 a.m. April 15, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

The Metro Council will come back Monday night to two of the biggest land-use questions it has tackled lately: whether to put a two-year pause on new data centers, and whether to adopt Tennessee’s Jackson Law for landfill approvals.

Council members will also take up an Atmos Energy franchise agreement, but the bigger question running through the meeting is how much control Moore County wants to keep as larger projects start knocking.

The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing at 6:15 p.m. and its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 20 at the American Legion, 119 Booneville Hwy. in Lynchburg.

The proposed data center ordinance would put a two-year pause on new data centers, crypto mines, and similar projects while the county works out what rules should apply to them. If it passes, the county would stop accepting new applications tied to those projects – including zoning requests, plats, and building permits – unless the work is limited to the interior of an existing building and does not expand its capacity or alter the exterior.

The idea is to give Moore County time to sort through the questions those projects raise: power use, water demand, noise, waste, and whether they fit a rural county like this one.

Jackson Law gets at the same idea from another direction. The Tennessee law allows counties and cities to require local approval before a new or expanded landfill can move forward. In plain terms, it gives local officials more say before that kind of project can happen. It also requires public notice and hearings before approval votes, which means residents would have another chance to weigh in on concerns such as traffic, environmental impacts, and quality of life.

Bottom line: The county is deciding what guardrails it wants in place before bigger development proposals show up and the choices get tougher.

Also on second reading is the proposed agreement with Atmos Energy. That ordinance would give Atmos a 10-year, non-exclusive franchise to keep running its natural gas system in county rights-of-way, with two possible five-year renewals unless the county decides to end the agreement.

It also sets the rules for maintenance, safety, repairs, and the relocation of gas lines when county projects interfere with them. It matters, but it is a more routine county item than the moratorium and Jackson Law, both of which go more directly to what kind of growth Moore County wants to manage – and how.