MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis City Council members on Thursday passed two ordinances regulating data centers on first reading, advancing zoning changes while leaving a proposed temporary moratorium on new data centers for a later vote.
The measures must pass two more readings to be enacted, and the council agenda packet included few details on the zoning text. Council did not take up the temporary moratorium Thursday. The Council moved that vote to Oct. 20 after a heated meeting on the issue Tuesday where Nearly 200 activists and concerned citizens showed up with signs and bullhorns.
Councilman Chase Carlisle said tensions Tuesday were high and that Nobody in the audience wanted to hear anything that was happening up there. He characterized the pressure as intimidation rather than an exchange of ideas. Councilwoman Janika White said five ordinances were before council members Tuesday, including one introduced earlier in committee, and that members proposed a working session for Thursday to discuss details.
White said the issue was not a lack of urgency or that members failed to hear constituents. She said some people thought a moratorium would end all data centers, when the proposal would stop new data centers and expansions of existing ones. Councilman JB Smiley said a moratorium ordinance had been before the council for at least six weeks and that members were split and delayed the vote again as more than 200 people were expressing disapproval of inaction.
Thursday looked different. The crowd was smaller, with extra security and signs reminding people of city decorum rules. Activist Amber Sherman told the council organizers had spent almost a year holding community meetings and canvassing so residents understood a moratorium would not stop data centers already here. State Rep. and congressional candidate Justin Pearson announced he was one of those banned from council meetings and asked members for clarification, saying he had not received a letter and denying he was disruptive.
City council also passed an ordinance that would allow short-term rentals in Memphis to be deemed a public nuisance after three violations. Separately, Councilman Carlisle, a member of the Memphis City Council, held a press conference criticizing Tuesday protest violence and saying everyone should be held accountable, while stressing it was not appropriate to blame one council member for a vote.
City data lists offices at 125 N Main St, Memphis, TN 38103, where the chamber fight over data centers has become one of the sharpest local policy debates of the fall. The moratorium vote remains scheduled for Oct. 20. If paused, a moratorium would stop or delay new data center approvals but would not halt facilities already operating. Zoning ordinances that cleared first reading Thursday still need two more readings before they become law.
For Memphis neighborhoods watching data center growth, the next calendar marker is Oct. 20 on the moratorium and the remaining readings on the zoning package. Residents who packed the chamber Tuesday forced a delay; Thursday showed a tighter security posture as the council advanced narrower zoning changes first.
