Hoover adopts conditional‑use review for data centers after residents press for public input

The Hoover City Council voted to amend the zoning ordinance to add or revise office/technical use permissions and to create a conditional‑use review process intended to give the city a way to evaluate and place guardrails on data centers and similar facilities.

Mac Martin, a city planning official, told the council the change was intended to allow review rather than a blanket ban: “We do have at least 1 prominent data center within the city limits of Hoover … [the conditional‑use process] would at least give someone looking to place 1 in Hoover … an opportunity to provide that evaluation, the statistics and the potential impacts to us and allow our planning commission and our city council to make the final decision.”

Residents asked for clearer public engagement and specifics on mitigation. Rachel Leader (Ross Bridge) asked, “Why this versus a moratorium?” and sought clarification about whether the new path would allow adequate public input on projects that might be sizable or have on‑site power and water systems. Barbara Del Rio (Bluff Park) asked how residents would be engaged if an application came forward near an existing data center.

Councilor Schultz said the council intends to educate the public and use the new review process: “What we’re gonna do first is we’re gonna educate everybody, including ourselves, as to what is a data center. And from there, we can pursue the projects that may be in front of us, and we're going to engage the public.”

Councilors suspended the rules and adopted Ordinance 26‑2701 at the meeting; the action passed on a 6–0 roll call. City staff said conditional‑use applications would still require planning‑commission review, advertised public hearings and a council decision, and that the ordinance is intended to create reviewability while the city develops additional technical requirements.

The council also discussed specific items that may be required from applicants in future regulations, including utility capacity letters, buffers and other technical studies.