Why can Upper Cumberland counties not stop projects like data centers and bitcoin mines?
UCDD Deputy Director Tommy Lee said jurisdictions without zoning lack the legal authority to eliminate or restrict potential land uses. Lee said Tennessee code and established case law dictate that zoning is the only viable method for a local government to regulate how land is used.
“What I like to tell my communities is that you can be difficult, you just can’t be impossible,” Lee said, “When it comes to regulating where certain types of land uses are going to be allowed in your jurisdiction.”
Lee said local governments are generally required to allow any land use that is not explicitly prohibited by the federal government or the State of Tennessee. Lee said a county cannot legally outlaw a specific industry use entirely.
“It could open a county up to litigation and what a court would look for in my opinion and I’m not a judge and so I don’t know the answer but what I would think they would do, they would look to see if the regulations that the community established were reasonable,” Lee said. “You know, you gotta treat everybody the same and consistency in regulations allows for everyone to be treated equally.”
Lee said regulations must be in place before a company proposes a project because new guidelines cannot be applied retroactively to a business.
“If you’re referring to moratoriums on data centers or things of that nature, if you have zoning then those moratoriums can give you a little bit of time to be able to come up with different types of regulations,” Lee said. “But if you don’t have zoning, then you’re not able to do that.”
Lee said zoning requires a comprehensive approach because a county cannot choose to regulate only one type of land use. Lee said with the exception of agriculture, which is protected from zoning in Tennessee, every type of use from heavy industry to single-family homes must be included in the standards.
“If you adopt zoning you have to zone every type of use that you can think of whether that is the most heavily infrastructure intensive use you can think of to simply building a single family home,” Lee said. “So, you just have to be very careful.”
Lee said the decision to adopt regulations depends on the specific needs and rural nature of each individual county.
Lee said state law always overrules local regulations, and federal law overrules the state.
