Clarke County Commissioners Say They Have No Power to Block Data Center Near Thomasville

Clarke County commissioners told a Thomasville-area resident this week that they have virtually no legal authority to stop a proposed data center, or any other development, from locating in the county.

The exchange came during a commission meeting in Grove Hill, where Sven Swanson Jr. raised concerns about the possibility of a data center being built just outside the Thomasville city limits. “I think the bad outweighs the good,” Swanson told commissioners.

Commissioner Jackie Ray Rush responded that the county has no say in the matter. “We don’t have a dog in the fight. We don’t have zoning,” Rush said.

Clarke County, like all but two of Alabama’s 67 counties, lacks home rule, the authority to govern itself without going through the state Legislature. Only Baldwin and Shelby counties have been granted that power, meaning most Alabama counties, including Clarke, must seek legislative permission to adopt zoning ordinances or raise taxes.

Commissioners also told Swanson that the public has no mechanism to vote down the proposed data center. When he asked whether U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell could help establish a local moratorium on data center construction, he was told that as a federal lawmaker, Sewell has no authority over state or local zoning issues.

Swanson said his opposition centered on the large amounts of electricity and water data centers typically require, as well as the noise they generate. He also argued the facilities produce no physical product, though he acknowledged published reports have detailed substantial tax revenue generated by data centers elsewhere.

Rush said he had not taken a side on the project itself. “I’m not for it and I’m not against it,” he said, while also suggesting some of the negative publicity surrounding data centers originates from China, which he said does not want to see the United States benefit from the technology.

Why the county has little say

Alabama’s constitution concentrates most governing power in the Legislature, so county commissions can act only in areas the state has authorized. In counties without zoning, land outside city limits generally is not subject to local land-use rules, which is why decisions about a project like a data center can fall largely to the property owner and the developer.

Cities have more tools. Thomasville officials have said they are exploring annexing the property near the proposed site, which Alabama law allows when the owners of land contiguous to a city petition to be brought into its limits. Once annexed, the land would fall under the city’s zoning and other ordinances. Grove Hill, where the commission meets, is the Clarke County seat.