VONORE, TENNESSEE — The Vonore Regional Planning Commission met on Tuesday night to consider zoning ordinance amendments for data processing centers and battery energy storage systems but made no changes after hearing community opposition.
"It's just to gather community support for or against, and I think it was very obvious it's against," Mayor John Hammontree said. He added that the commission sought public input to inform potential next steps while preventing sudden data center developments. "The amount of water and electricity that these data centers use is certainly a major concern. I don't know that we know enough about these things, the harm that may be produced by them," Hammontree said.
Monroe County resident Rachel Pilcher expressed concern about long-term impacts. "After three to five years, you're going to have this monstrosity sitting in your town. Google or some big tech company is probably not going to sell you the land back. They don't have to care about us. They don't have to look at us everyday. They don't have to see our water drying up. They don't have to see us or our animals getting sick. They don't care," she said.
Vonore resident Amber Bright cited additional concerns. "Higher electric bills, your water getting contaminated and not cleaned properly. There are some other questionable things like adding a whole bunch of gas turbines," she said.
Community members urged commissioners to adopt a moratorium to block data centers from operating under minimal regulations. The commission reviewed ordinances from other communities as it weighed its own approach. Hammontree encouraged residents to bring their concerns to the Vonore Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which will meet the following Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Vonore City Hall.