NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A proposed data center near the Nashville Zoo is heading toward a critical vote, with two regulatory bills advancing after Metro's Planning Commission recommended them Thursday night.
The bills — one to establish zoning rules for data centers and another to pause new data centers— now face a public hearing and second vote at the Metro Council meeting on July 7. A final vote is expected later in July.
The company DC BLOX says it has purchased land near the zoo with plans for a facility exceeding 202,000 square feet, along with an electrical substation capable of using up to 50 megawatts of power — enough to power up to 50,000 homes. The company says it already holds permits and the project will move forward regardless of new legislation.
"This legislation is being driven by fear and not facts," said attorney Doug Sloan, who represents DC BLOX.
Sloan said the facility's design will limit noise, reduce water use, and avoid extra costs to the community.
"This building is vested. They're going to build it there. We already have the permits in hand. We just want to work with the community to find a solution," Sloan said.
But the Nashville Zoo and Councilmember Rollin Horton dispute that claim, saying DC BLOX permits have not been officially approved, leaving the project in limbo. Metro permit records available to the public appear to support that position.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell sided with opponents.
"We know this is not something the zoo wants. This is not something the neighborhood wants. This is not something the city wants. And we're going to continue exploring all options," O'Connell said.
Horton's zoning bill would ban the largest data center facilities in Davidson County and require other data centers to maintain distance from areas such as schools, zoos, and hospitals. The second bill would halt all new data center permits until those regulations are in place.
Neighbors and zoo officials have raised concerns about air quality, noise, water use, and strain on the local power grid.
"To allow non-essential infrastructure to have significant and long-term health impacts on the children that go to school in the vicinity, the children that are attending the zoo as a whole is not a good move," Drew Small of No New Data Centers said.
The Nashville Zoo released a detailed statement responding to DC BLOX's public comments, pushing back on the company's claims about electricity, water, and noise:
- In response to electricity usage, a DC BLOX spokesperson said the company will "commit to paying for all power infrastructure needed to power our site and pay for usage at regulated rates as we do in other states."
- Electricity usage is a concern for the public and Nashville Zoo. While we expect that they would pay for their own usage to operate their data center, a large concern of ours is the strain that the full scope of this project will have on the power grid. DC Blox’s future plans will make this a facility that’s over 202,000 square feet, along with an electrical substation, using up to 50 megawatts of power capacity--enough to power up to 50,000 homes.
- Often times without reason, this area already experiences numerous outages throughout the year. During the Ice Storm in February, the Zoo lost power for nearly three days and struggled to maintain operations. Putting a strain on an already poor power grid would be catastrophic for the Zoo, its animals, and the people who live and work in this community.
- In response to water usage, he stated the company will "use either a waterless air-cooled system or a closed-loop cooling system that continues to recirculate water within the data center without the need to continuously pull from utility water."
- This does not table our concerns about the rate of which water is used to initially flush and refresh this system over time.
- Additionally, we are facing the destruction of our storm water retention system that is already strained. The Zoo’s retention pond works overtime to filter the stormwater runoff from the industrial park where the data center plans to be built. This infrastructure protects the groundwater, tributaries, and streams that run through not only the Zoo, but our neighboring community. One of those tributaries is home to the Nashville crayfish, a federally protected species whose wild population in Nashville the Zoo has been working to stabilize.
- According to the 2024 Berkeley Lab [eta-publications.lbl.gov] report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2023, the country’s data centers directly consumed about 17 billion gallons of water, with hyperscale and colocation facilities using the lion’s share (84%). The drastic consumption of water from these centers leads to a reduction in water pressure [nytimes.com], which would be detrimental to the Zoo, should the future expansion stop using the proposed closed-loop. [politico.com]
4. DC BLOX recently said in a public comment meeting on June 25 that the company is currently vested in the property, and that they plan on building.
- When it comes to health risks, the company said they have operated data centers since 2017 with "no issues with local neighbors, nearby schools, nor regulating organizations regarding health or environmental issues. We utilize the latest technology and conform to the industry’s most rigorous operating standards to ensure our facilities operate safely and sustainably. And we can use technology options or design modifications to conform to specific community needs."
- There are examples of pushback against DC BLOX and their centers.
- A data center developer is promising to be a good neighbor. Not all Far Eastsiders are sold [wfyi.org]
- Cut the Project by 70%. Still Got Recommended for Denial. | RealClear [realclear.ai]
- Proposals for two data center projects in Richmond, Virginia, deferred by local officials - DCD [datacenterdynamics.com]
- Developer withdraws proposal for Henrico County data center [richmond.com]
- Henrico County, VA has been fighting the company and so far is winning. They even tried to downsize the property to get the center approved; that did not work. Concerns about the level of noise coming from DC BLOX’s data center near neighborhoods is still top of mind.
§ The current closing date of the sale with Market Street Enterprises is July 6, 2026. As of right now, most of the permits have not been approved. This can be found by the public via Metro Permits [epermits.nashville.gov].
- “DC blocks will not make more than sixty five decibels worth of noise at the property line.”
- As one of our very own summer campers stated at the June 11th public hearing, animals are sensitive to sound that measures at lower decibel levels than can be detected by humans, infrasound. This specialized hearing adaptation impacts how some animals communicate with each other in environments like secluded tropical forests and across the African savanna. It’s how mother okapis locate their offspring and how rhinos communicate to find mates, coordinate herd movements, and warn each other of danger.
- Traditional community noise is often evaluated using dBA measurements, while low frequency and tonal noise requires additional analysis using dBC, dBZ, octave band, and third octave band measurements to fully characterize the sound environment. Exposure to unabated, tonal noise and infrasound coming from this data center will have detrimental impacts on the wellbeing of the animals at the Zoo. A testimony from a rancher in Texas reveals that he has not seen a single live birth from his cattle since a data center was built near his farm. The future survival of endangered species that we protect through AZA’s Species Survival Plan is at risk
- Typically, noise ordinance guidelines are for an 8-hour work day according to OSHA standards. The noise that would be emitted from the center would be 24/7. So, imagine, a low humming noise constantly in the background 24/7, 365 days a year. This constant noise has been linked to increased anxiety and depression in people living near these data centers.
- Lastly, the company has repeatedly said they have met with the Zoo prior to the news of the center being built.
- The official news was announced on May 20 via a business journal article [bizjournals.com]. We were not contacted by them until after the article was released, and we started our petition.
- The only meeting that has occurred was on 6/23/2026 when the Zoo’s Attorney and Chairman of our Board met with DC Blox’s attorney and leadership.
The dispute is likely to be resolved in court.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Patsy.Montesinos@NewsChannel5.com
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