Local officials data center-maxxing; city to vote on moratorium next week

Data centers were on tap for both the Pulaski County Quorum Court and the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday night, with the city’s measure going forward for a vote next week and the county’s legislation pulled for further study.

Little Rock City Director Kathy Webb tried and failed to get an 18-month moratorium passed in August – it tied on a 4-4 vote – and now has come back with a six-month pause, which was brought up at Tuesday night’s agenda meeting. There was little discussion and no vote taken.

Webb said she had talked to her constituents, some of whom thought a year and a half was too long and others who thought six months wasn’t long enough. Her proposal allows for another six-month delay if more time is needed to study a data center proposal.

Asked if she thinks she has the votes this time around, Webb said she hopes so. 

“If we were in the Legislature, lawmakers have those kinds of conversations every day,” she said. “But we can’t do that on the board so I depend on the people I’m working with to have those conversations with other board members. I can say this, there will be several co-sponsors this time.”

Google has proposed a 100-megawatt, $1 billion data center that would be located on 380 acres in the Port of Little Rock area.

The Board of Directors passed an ordinance in June outlining data center regulations, but it has been criticized for not going far enough. 

About a block and a half away from City Hall, at the county’s administration building, the Quorum Court’s own agenda was getting underway, but a proposed piece of legislation was pulled before it could be considered and placed on the full Quorum Court’s agenda.

The proposed ordinance was written by Justice of the Peace Douglas House, who said he had taken his proposal off the agenda after talking with members of the county’s planning staff who had questions about some of the particulars.

House, who was appointed by Gov. Sarah Sanders, is serving until the end of the year and took the place left vacated by Phil Stowers, who resigned in June. He said he has worked on the ordinance as an alternative to one proposed by Justice of the Peace Julie Blackwood. Blackwood’s ordinance was passed last month on an 11-4 vote and sets out detailed conditions under which large industrial projects, like data centers, can operate. 

After that vote, County Judge Barry Hyde vetoed the measure because, among other objections, he thinks the county will be sued if the ordinance passes.

House’s ordinance includes some of the same topics as Blackwood’s measure, but makes an exception for a large data center project being pushed by AVAIO Digital. That project, located near Wrightsville, is estimated to be worth $21 billion and need 1 gigawatt of electricity to operate.

House said he also thinks the county will be sued if the Avaio project is included in any legislation that slows the construction process that is now underway. 

“I am 99.9% sure that will happen,” House said after the meeting.

House said if the Quorum Court overrides Hyde’s veto, thereby confirming the passage of Blackwood’s ordinance — nine votes are needed — he will toss his proposal in the trash, noting that his time on the Quorum Court will end soon after. If the justices of the peace fail to override the veto, he said he will continue pursuing his proposal.