Brad Paisley joins fight as zoo's dispute with AI data center escalates, petition tops 330,000 signatures — Nashville weighs sweeping hyperscale ban

An ongoing fight over a proposed data center sited just 50 yards from Nashville Zoo has escalated further, with the zoo’s land use attorney filing a zoning appeal to overturn permits already approved for developer DC BLOX. An opposition petition has already passed 331,000 signatures, with Grammy-winning country star Brad Paisley calling the project "an absolute nightmare scenario" in a video posted to Instagram over the weekend.

The pressure now shifts to the Metro Planning Commission, which is set to hold a public hearing Thursday, June 11th, on legislation that would ban data centers larger than 500,000 square feet across Davidson County and keep smaller ones at least half a mile from homes, schools, and zoos. The 69,220-square-foot facility at 648 Grassmere Park would draw an estimated 50 MW from the local grid, and the zoo argues its noise and light could disturb vulnerable species, including clouded leopards it is working to conserve.

Bill BL2026-1391, filed by District 20 Councilmember Rollin Horton and passed after a first reading earlier this month, will create Nashville's first zoning rules for data centers, according to the local news outlet WKRN. Facilities over 500,000 square feet would be prohibited outright, while those between 100,000 and 500,000 square feet would need Board of Zoning Appeals approval following a public hearing. All data centers would have to run closed-loop cooling systems that don’t return water to the public supply, and smaller facilities would face buffer zones of 100 to 500 feet from homes, daycares, churches, parks, and other data centers.

It's been reported that the bill will also look to restrict the use of backup generators to emergencies and testing, and require developers to prove Nashville Electric Service has capacity before approval. Governor Bill Lee signed a separate state law last week requiring data centers to cover the cost of grid infrastructure upgrades their facilities need.

The DC BLOX project itself falls well under the size that the bill seeks to ban, and the company already claims closed-loop or waterless cooling for the site, but it’s the half-mile zoo buffer that’d be the blocker should it come to pass. The zoo told NBC News that land use attorney Bill Herbert, a former Metro Codes Director, filed the appeal to overturn DC BLOX's approved permits.

"As we move forward, we have taken the next step in our fight against the proposed data center," the zoo said in a statement to NBC News, confirming that land use attorney Bill Herbert, a former Metro Codes Director, filed the zoning appeal to overturn DC BLOX's approved permits. A company spokesperson told the outlet the facility “would not be an AI factory placing a burden on local resources” and sits on land that previously hosted a data center, though he couldn't say what the new facility would be used for or whether AI companies would be customers.

The standoff in Nashville fits a pattern of opposition to new data centers we’re seeing nationwide. A Gallup survey from last month found that 70% of Americans oppose data centers built near their homes, and Seattle is set to pass a one-year moratorium on new AI data center construction. If Horton's bill passes, Nashville would have some of the strictest siting rules of any major U.S. city, written in direct response to a facility too small for most AI workloads.

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