The ordinance was graduated from the council committee’s executive session hours earlier.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shortly after an ordinance proposing a temporary pause on data center development in Memphis was introduced for consideration during a Memphis City Council committee executive session Tuesday, Aug. 18, it was graduated to Tuesday afternoon’s full council meeting.
The proposed ordinance, which was presented for a first reading during the full meeting, was added to the council’s Tuesday consent agenda, which passed with 7 votes.
The ordinance must now pass two more council approvals before it is introduced as law. Now that the first reading has been approved, it will be subject to legal questions and council concerns that could ultimately reshape the original language of the local legislation.
The proposed ordinance, if passed, would temporarily pause all permit approvals for new data centers and other large computing facilities while the city studies their long-term effects and how to better regulate them, while determining their role in the city’s future.