Council adopts six‑month moratorium on data centers, creates ad hoc committee to draft regulations

The Russellville City Council on July 16 adopted an ordinance placing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of data‑center applications within city limits and directed the creation of a temporary council committee to study and recommend regulations. The final ordinance was approved after council members amended the sponsor’s original 18‑month proposal to a six‑month moratorium; the amendment and final motion passed by roll call (6–2).

Sponsor Council Member Justin Keller said the moratorium would give the council and community time to study potential impacts and craft standards, and he argued the interval would allow for public meetings and detailed discussion of guardrails. “It would give us the rest of this year, give us next year, to be able to discuss what we want, our rules and regulations,” Keller said while explaining the original 18‑month proposal and signaling willingness to shorten it.

Opponents cautioned against an overly broad ban and urged use of existing zoning tools. Council Member Olson said, “To put a moratorium on a potential large business that doesn't do all the damage that we see in the news just seems a bit extreme for me,” and suggested using special use permits and existing planning‑commission review where appropriate.

City planning staff and the city planner, Gavin Wilson, explained current zoning options and timelines: data centers are currently permissible only by special‑use permit in M‑1 (light industrial) and M‑2 (heavy industrial) zones, and conditions can be imposed through staff recommendations and the planning commission. Wilson also noted that rezoning large contiguous acreage (for some data centers) may be difficult because the city has limited large tracts of industrially zoned land.

Council members discussed the length of the moratorium and an amendment was moved to reduce the sponsor’s 18‑month period to six months; the amendment passed on a roll call vote and the council then approved the amended ordinance. Council members agreed the committee should solicit public input, hold town halls and return to the council to lift or extend the moratorium depending on progress.

The ordinance establishes a temporary committee drawn from the council to draft recommended legislation and rules for any future data‑center proposals. Staff said they could begin preparatory work with council members during the 30‑day period before the moratorium formally takes effect, and legal counsel confirmed that the emergency clause would be required if the council wanted immediate effect before that 30‑day window.

Next steps: the council will seat the ad hoc committee and schedule public meetings; the moratorium can be shortened or extended by later council action depending on the committee’s work.