GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — During a work session, the city council advanced two moratoriums Tuesday night.
First, after a lengthy discussion, the council voted to move forward with the pause on building apartments. The ordinance did not come to the council with a positive recommendation from the Planning Commission.
There were concerns among the council about how the moratorium would impact the housing authority's plan to tear down and rebuild apartments, affordable housing, and the city's comprehensive plan.
WATCH: Gallatin council to consider moratorium on apartments and data centers
"If you put a pause on residential growth, you stand to, inadvertently, put a pause on your commercial growth," said Gallatin City Planner Brian Rose.
Next, the council voted to also move forward with the year-long moratorium on data centers.
This pause came to the council with a 5-2 positive recommendation from the Planning Commission. The goal is to give the city time to reevaluate if it should implement limits on the facilities, and if so, how.
"It was to refine the code, and that is what the moratorium is being basically defended by. So, then the code would then have definitions and distances based on what the definitions may be, specific to data centers. Because with that, this is the only place I have changed my mind a little bit about comparing it to all industry, there is confusion in what different data centers look like," said Mayor Paige Brown.
Several residents at the meeting spoke in favor of the moratorium on data centers and apartments. Gallatin is home to a Meta data center.
"To us in Gallatin, all data centers are Meta- hyperscale, but they are not. We have to figure out how we need to define each one," said Brown.
NewsChannel 5 will keep you updated as both measures move through the city council. According to the agenda, both moratorium ordinances will receive a first and second reading before being approved. The next city council meeting is September 15th.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Megan.Scarano@NewsChannel5.com
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