Pegram residents packed a town meeting Monday night to send a clear message to local officials: if a data center developer ever comes knocking, the answer should be no. No data center is currently planned for the small Cheatham County town, but that didn't stop a room full of neighbors from showing up to push back against the possibility before it becomes a reality.
The Town of Pegram held the meeting to discuss data center guidelines and hear from residents, according to WKRN News 2. While town leaders confirmed there are no data centers currently planned for the area, they warned residents that one could still be built in the community down the road. That warning was apparently enough to fill the room with neighbors who, per the station's report, appeared to rally against the idea of data centers coming to town at all.
Part of the urgency stems from a gap in Pegram's rulebook. The station's report notes that the town's current ordinance offers very little language to protect residents if a developer were to seek approval for a data center, leaving Pegram with essentially no existing rules or regulations tailored to the industry.
Planning Commission to Tackle Size, Capacity and Location Rules
To close that gap, Pegram's planning commission plans to dig into the nuts and bolts of what a future ordinance might look like — starting with how the town would even define a data center, then moving on to size, capacity and where such facilities could be allowed to operate. In the meantime, town leaders say they hope to make interim changes to the existing ordinance to protect Pegram until more specific rules and regulations are finalized, the same report notes.
Resident Chris Crump was among those making the case against any large-scale project landing in Pegram. “We don't need a big data center here,” Crump said, according to the outlet, framing the town as a small, family-oriented community that doesn't need that kind of industrial footprint. Crump added flatly, “we don't want it here.”
Crump also pointed to Pegram's history of organized resistance to unwanted development, recalling how the community previously rallied against a proposed gun-club rezoning request near the Tanglewood neighborhood. The Pegram Board of Mayor and Aldermen ultimately denied that gun club request back in September 2019, a precedent Crump invoked while saying he hopes Pegram follows Cheatham County's lead on data center guidelines and recognizes there's simply no place for them in town, per the station's account. Another resident argued that any such decision should be put to a formal vote, given how close development could land to residents' backyards.
Part of a Broader Statewide Pattern
Pegram's pushback mirrors a wave of similar fights playing out across Tennessee this year. In nearby Cheatham County, commissioners unanimously voted to add data centers to the list of extensive impact facilities in the county's zoning resolution, a move that would confine such projects to areas zoned for industrial use, according to Main Street Media of Tennessee. That amendment followed urging from attorney Bill Herbert and Preserve Cheatham County leader Tracy O'Neill at a January workshop, the outlet reported.
Elsewhere in Middle Tennessee, Montgomery County passed its own data center zoning rules restricting size and noise, though some residents there are still pushing for tighter limits, as NewsChannel 5 reported. Montgomery County commissioners also added a requirement to review how close data centers may operate to homes, though that issue will need further approvals and public hearings.
Further east, McMinnville and Coffee County each unanimously passed moratoria on data center construction in June, with McMinnville's 18-month pause coming after a proposed 25-megawatt, 96,000-square-foot facility drew community pushback, according to Tennessee Lookout. The same outlet reported more than 150 people turned out to a Nashville Planning Commission meeting to oppose data center projects proposed near the Nashville Zoo and Fisk University.
Nashville and Other Cities Weighing Pauses of Their Own
That Nashville opposition has since pushed Metro Council member Courtney Johnston to introduce legislation that would temporarily halt permits for data center construction, according to WPLN. The public radio station also reported that Cedar Hill, Washington County, Grundy County, Johnson City, Jonesborough and Bristol have all adopted moratoriums lasting one to two years, with supporters arguing the pauses give communities time to study local impacts, improve the power grid and set up appropriate regulations.
How many Tennessee communities have taken such action depends on who's counting: WPLN reported nine cities and counties had passed moratoriums since the fall, with five approved in just the few weeks before its article published, while a separate WKRN report put the number of jurisdictions with moratoriums in place at the time at a minimum of 10. Tennessee's overall data center footprint is similarly hard to pin down across different counts — Tennessee Lookout reported 61 facilities operating or under construction statewide, including 26 in the Nashville area, while WKRN cited DataCenterMap and Baxtel figures identifying 65 operational data centers across 10 counties, a count that measures something slightly different than facilities still under construction.
The debate isn't confined to Tennessee. POLITICO reported that a national poll conducted in October found American opposition to data centers had nearly doubled since earlier in the year, and that an advocacy group called Conserve Ohio has helped pass 10 ballot initiatives banning large-scale data centers in local Ohio communities, with plans to push the Ohio Legislature for a 12-month statewide moratorium, according to the outlet's reporting.
For now, Pegram's next step plays out at the town level. The Town of Pegram's next meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 7, per both WKRN and the Town of Pegram's own posted calendar, giving residents another chance to weigh in before any interim ordinance changes take shape.
