Loudon County planning commission backs amended Greenback zoning ordinance and approves temporary moratorium on data centers

The Loudon County Regional Planning Commission voted to recommend adoption of an amended zoning ordinance and comprehensive zoning maps for the town of Greenback and approved a temporary moratorium on data‑center facilities. The motion to forward the ordinance recommendation carried after staff described mostly minor definition and fee‑schedule changes and said the zoning maps would be adopted without changing existing property designations.

Why it matters: The recommendation will be forwarded to the county commission for final action, and the temporary moratorium pauses new data‑center facility approvals inside the town while the county and town review zoning rules and map corrections. That creates an immediate halt to new data‑center applications in Greenback until the moratorium expires or the county takes additional action.

Staff presented the ordinance update as largely technical. The presenter said the resolution would “amend the zoning plan, zoning ordinance, zoning maps” and that the maps “would be recommended as approved as official zoning without any changes to any properties that were noted on those maps previously.” Commission discussion focused on a mapping clarification for a parcel that staff said appeared incorrectly labeled C‑1 on the agenda map; staff committed to clear that matter with the official map materials.

Commissioners then considered a separate resolution imposing a temporary moratorium on data‑center facilities in the town of Greenback. A motion and second were recorded and the commission approved the moratorium by voice vote. The chair announced the vote and staff recorded that the commission would send its recommendation and the moratorium resolution to the county commission for next steps.

What happens next: The county commission will receive the planning commission’s recommendation on the amended ordinance and the moratorium. The moratorium is temporary by design; the county commission or town may extend, modify or lift it depending on subsequent review and any legislative action.

Provenance: The ordinance and map adoption recommendation was introduced in the staff presentation describing an updated ordinance and corrected maps (transcript evidence beginning with the staff presentation of the zoning amendments). The moratorium language appears in the staff introduction and in the commission vote on the moratorium (staff presentation: "resolution for a temporary moratorium on data center facilities in the town of Greenback"; vote recorded later in the meeting).