Okay.

Yeah, and I think it's right.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let me know what I said.

No, no, no.

Yeah, but it's a good set.

Okay.

So I think I think I've got cell phones.

But I'm gonna do it.

Okay.

So they're right.

Red seconds right.

So certainly it's the file.

I saw that and I get it.

So now it's a little bit so that we're just gonna be able to do that.

Okay, that's a new problem.

Oh yes.

They have a sequence.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sure, I mean it's uh chairs.

And I I'm gonna have a panel.

I'm gonna look like down the fancy.

I was gonna watch it in the middle.

So I'm here.

So I would like to go.

That's why you talk to the she's a different screen.

Yeah, so it's on certain.

We would be next to the show.

It's pretty much it.

Okay.

It looks very good.

Oh, it's nice and changed.

Yeah, that's the mind.

I got you, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You shouldn't be able to read the line.

Okay.

Okay.

Um they should have not should have been there.

Um stay on.

Good morning, Birmingham.

Today is Tuesday, April 28th.

The time is now 9 41 a.m.

I call to order the regular meeting of the Birmingham City Council.

Today's invocation will be led by Father Phil Paxton, pastor of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Innsleigh.

Pledge of Allegiance will be held by can I get you to do it for us?

Councillor Crystal Smithman.

If you're all willing and able, please stand and join us for the invocation and pledge of allegiance.

Lord, we pray in Thanksgiving for this day.

And Lord, we pray that they in these divided times, they may be agents of healing and reconciliation, of justice and peace.

And Lord, we ask that whatever they decide, whatever they discuss, however they may deliberate the issues of the day, that it may serve all the people of the city of Birmingham and its surroundings and make the city and its surroundings the place you created it to be.

If you will call the road, please.

Councilmember Gunn.

Good morning.

Good morning, Councilmember Smithman.

Good morning, Councilmember Vasa.

Councilmember Williams.

Councilmember Woods.

Good morning.

Council President Pro Tim Tate.

Good morning.

Council President Alexander.

Good morning.

Thank you very much.

Councillors, at this time, the minutes are not ready from the meetings of January 6th, 2026 through April 21st, 2026.

At this time, we'll entertain communications from Mayor Whitman.

Good morning, Mayor Whitfin.

Madam President, good morning to you.

Good to see you.

Good morning, Council.

It's good to see all of you this morning.

Good morning to the general public as well as those here in the council chamber.

Madam President and Council, before I get into a few presentations and proclamations, I do want to make two important notes.

Layla and her parents died in a house fire a few weeks ago.

They were killed in their home in Greenacre subdivision of Ensley.

Unfortunately, Alabama leaves the Southeast region in fire deaths.

It turns out having a working smoke detector in your home can mean the matter of life and death.

So what we want to do, Madam President and Council, is probably every Tuesday.

So if you're a resident of the city of Birmingham and you would like more information about smoke alarms, turns out we also give free smoke alarms, and our fire department will install it for you for free, no charge again.

The City of Birmingham Fire Department provides to our residents, free smoke alarms, and free installation.

We really want to encourage our residents.

Two of which have led to murder suicides.

If you are in any situation that is domestic violence related or you feel unsafe in a relationship, there are things you can do to protect yourself.

Protect your children if you have them.

One, you can call the National Domestic Hotline.

That phone number is 1800 799 Safe.

That's SAFE or 7233.

Again, that domestic hotline is 1-800-799-7233.

We acknowledge in some of these situations, you can always make an actual phone call, so you can also text the letter start.

That's S T A S T A R T788.

Again, text start S T A R T to 8878.

However, there's another notion.

If you feel that you are an immediate danger in any domestic situation, we implore you or your life is threatened that you call 911.

We think that's important.

There's also a local number you can call for support, the YWCA.

That number is 322-4878.

Again, 205-322-4878.

I appreciate you all letting me share those two notes with you around fire prevention and domestic violence, but they both are from a local situation and a national conversation.

Things we need to talk about locally for so our community members can be informed as well as if they are in a situation they know who to call and what to do, as well as to protect themselves and their family.

Any guests she may have to please join me as she will share a short presentation, which also includes a 60-second film for you all to watch up here.

Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor and distinguished members of the Birmingham City Council.

Thank you on behalf of the 63rd Annual Foot Soldiers Celebration taking place in the Civil Rights District on May 2nd from 10 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

An event that honors the brave men and women and children who helped shape this history right here in Birmingham.

These Foot Soldiers were everyday people who chose courage over comfort.

Because of their sacrifice, doors were open, lives was changed, and this city became a symbol of transformation for the world.

Today we carry that legacy forward.

This celebration brings together generations, educating our youth, honoring our elders, and reminding our community of the strength we share when we stand united.

We would also like to extend sincere gratitude to those who have already partnered with us financially, including Mayor Wolfin, Commissioner Sheila Tyson, the National Park Service, Birmingham Convention Bureau, and we respectfully asking each council member to partner with us through a contribution of 1,963.

This is more than support for an event.

It is an investment in history, unity, and the continuing growth of Birmingham legacy.

We've seen others in community step forward, and we are grateful.

Today, we simply invite you to stand with us in a way that reflects the importance of what this moment represents.

Everyone is invited, and may the forgiveness and love that the Foot Soldiers demonstrated be our Christ-like guide in every neighborhood across the city so that we may live peacefully, lives marked by true love and unity.

We believe that when we honor those who pave the way, we strengthen the path ahead.

Thank you for your time, your service, and your continuing commitment to the people of Birmingham.

We look forward to celebrating with you on May 2nd.

Play the video.

Get ready for an exciting time as we celebrate the Foot Soldiers 63rd Anniversary Civil Rights Celebration.

This event is on Saturday, May 2nd in the historic Fourth Avenue District of Downtown Birmingham between the hours of 10 a.m.

and 7 p.m.

Come ready to celebrate for a powerful day of remembrance, unity, and inspiration as we honor those who shape the civil rights movement and look forward as we forge into the future.

Come and experience live music performances, a youth legacy zone, an evening light tribute and unity walk.

Bring your lawn chair and celebrate the day with us.

More than an event, it's a call to remember, reconnect, and rise together.

Bring your family, invite your friends.

Be part of history in motion.

I'm excited.

I've been living for a long time.

I'm in the God of Long.

Madam President and Council, I have three more, three more things to share with you.

One being the Rickwood Foot Rick Wood Field Tour.

Again, that's Rick Wood Field Tour.

This Saturday, May 2nd, the community is invited for a tour of the historic Rick Wood Field at 10 a.m.

Again, that time is 10 a.m., the historic preservation month.

We'll kick off at the oldest professional baseball park in our country with a guided tour that explores the architectural preservation of the grandstands as well as the legendary stories of the Negro Leagues that define our Birmingham landmark.

At this time, I would also like to ask Judy Woods and Damian Carson from Operation Hope and any of their guests in the chambers to join me.

As they come up for the second year, Operation Hope is climax in April as National Financial Literacy Month on April 30th with the Green Sox Day Challenge.

And Judy, I hope you I hope you got my green socks.

Please.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Mayor Wolfman and to this illustrious city council.

Again, our mayor, thank you so much for allowing us to be in this space.

I'm Judy Woods with Operation Hope.

I am a financial well-being coach and a HUD certified housing counselor.

Damian Carson is accompanying me and he can tell you more about who he is.

April is Financial Literacy Month.

And to support that initiative, Operation Hope for the second year in a row has kicked off National Green Socks Day.

And let me just hold things up.

And I think we were here last year to share Green Sox.

We've got new council people.

So this is an initiative in combination with Operation Hope, Financial Literacy for All in Walmart to encourage people on April 30th, which is the day that Green Sox Challenge Climax to wear this pair of green socks or a pair of green socks.

What's unique about this?

It has writing that encourages you to put your best foot forward.

Put your best foot forward for what?

To enhance financial literacy, financial capacity, and improve economic empowerment.

And that is certainly symbolic of what this mayor, this council, and this city government does.

And so we wanted to let you know how appreciative we were of your ongoing support of Operation Hope and the initiatives that we had.

April has been very busy for us with Operation Hope and trying to get the message out about financial literacy.

We've had several credit and money management workshops.

But the event that I'm most proud of that we have hosted in April was an inaugural workshop for homeownership.

I went around with members of the HR team the last quarter in December, and we met with individuals through Department of Public Works and others, and they expressed a desire to attend our work jobs, to be a part of the coaching that we offer, but because of work schedules, it prohibited them from doing so.

I got this bright idea from somewhere, you know, not me to have an event that's called Home for Sunday Supper.

It's held on Sunday in the afternoon from 3 and to 5.

We had our first one two Sundays ago.

I cannot tell you how amazing and impactful it was.

It is strictly for to focus on employees with the city of Birmingham.

The I think we had about 18 people to come.

Two of those applied for mortgages and were pre-approved on the spot.

And so we are doing the work because of the support and the vision that the city has.

And so we're here just to say thank you.

And Damien.

You did a great job.

Thank you.

I did a great job.

So we have socks for all.

And Mayor, we have for you, in addition to the socks, uh Chairman John Hope Bryan has just released a new vote, Capitalism for All, and this is your personal copy, and thank you so much.

All right, thanks.

All right.

Thank you all.

Appreciate it.

I can look up to it.

Okay.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

As we as we come to our last presentation, I want to ask the council pro temblatonia tate as well as Elena Melton to join me.

I may give you your socks, I may not.

We can talk about that in a minute.

The city of Birmingham is committed to fostering a safer, more inclusive, as well as a more supportive community for all of our residents, including those returning from incarceration.

Individuals re-entering society deserve dignity and opportunity and the support necessary to successfully rebuild their lives, reconnect with their families, and equally contribute meaningfully to their communities.

If you are unaware, April is second chance month.

April is second chance month.

And so part of what I want to do before I hand the mic to your colleague is to read a special proclamation in part as we honor the work of the partners in the trenches, supporting those on the success of our residents re entering our communities.

The states whereas the Birmingham Reentry Alliance, organized in 2024, represents a collaborative network of nonprofits, faith organizations, and community partners, supported by the City of Birmingham, working together to provide a comprehensive system of treatment, re-entry, housing, health care, and workforce services.

And whereas the City of Birmingham acknowledges that successful reentry cannot be separated from recovery.

As many returning citizens are rebuilding their lives after addiction related challenges.

And the alliance provides evidence-based recovery support that meets individuals where they are and in their journey.

Whereas the success of Birmingham Reentry Alliance stands as a model for the state of Alabama as efforts continue to improve re-entry outcomes and strengthen community statewide.

Now, therefore, now, therefore, I, Randall L.

Woodfin, mayor of the City of Birmingham, along with the City Council Pro Tim, Latonya Tate, and the entire Birmingham City Council.

Do proclaim and recognize, as well as commend the Birmingham Reentry Alliance for its collaboration with Second Chance One and the City of Birmingham for its leadership, compassion, and dedication to empowering returning citizens, strengthening families, and building a safer and more just Birmingham for all.

And counsel I present to you, your colleague, Madam Pro Tim.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council members.

Thank you, President Alexander and my colleagues.

As you all know, it's no secret.

I am directly impacted by incarceration.

My son is formerly incarcerated.

So this means a lot to me to support Second Chance Month and really want to thank Elena for all the hard work that she has done around the homelessness and continue to do, you know, with the second chance initiative.

I want to definitely thank all the partners at the table.

I have very good relationships with Miss Carla Crater, Stride, and most of you that are here.

So we could not do this work without the partners that are listed here and giving men and women second chances and returning home because a lot of people, Jefferson County is the biggest county, so a lot of people do find their way once they are released from incarceration to back to Birmingham.

And so this second chance and along with the reinvest is going to be just great, getting people placed into good jobs, getting people placed in YouTube to homes, and just coming back home, starting their lives over.

So I'm super excited to see how welcoming people are to embrace those that are directly impacted, and people that um closest to the problem are the solution solvers.

So I would yield this mic to Miss Elena Milton.

Thank you, Elena.

Thank you so much, Mayor, Councillor Tate, to the members of the council.

I'll be really brief.

I know your agenda, your time has been well spent.

And I just want to thank you for supporting this program.

You have allowed invested in it using our opioid funds, and we're really proud to say our folks coming home from prison, about 80% have opioid addictions, and we've had we've seen zero opioid overdose amongst our clients.

And so we come a lot of times with issues or problems.

This is one situation where we just want to thank you and show you that a program that's working.

And it's working because the city's made the investment, but these partners listed on this flyer, we literally could not do it without them.

When we saw people coming home from prison in 2003 with no housing plan, we went to Appleseed, and together we locked arms and went to these agencies one by one, and we didn't have a dime, and they stepped up to do what they were doing doing already collectively.

So we want to thank them and thank you.

And I will turn it to Carla Crowder, the executive director of Alabama Appleseve for the final word.

Good morning.

This is a dream come true.

This alliance was created because it was a crisis at the state level, and the people in Birmingham, the mayor's office, the Office of Unhoused Strategies, Councillor Tate, and all of you said Birmingham is going to treat people with dignity and hope.

And now this alliance is a model for the state.

So what matters is people who would be unhoused and sleeping in the park are now getting services from these partners behind me.

I can't thank you all enough.

Madam President Cassie, yes, Councillor Smithman.

Thank you.

Um, as you guys see the picture.

Um what you guys do is a very thankless job, right?

You guys are helping people, and you know, you you get recognition today, but you'll probably never get the recognition again outside of what we give.

And I really appreciate what you do because I make it the three wrong, but to address crime, it's about three different ways.

It's prevention, it's an intervention and re-entry.

And you need all three to work in order to provide a safe city.

In my other life, I'm an attorney.

And so just very quickly, a quick story.

I had a childhood friend.

We represent him, he had him going to jail for drugs.

The sad reality is it's easier to get drugs in prison than it is out in the real world.

So he never got fully cleaned.

He got out.

Unfortunately, he's deceased.

But it's because most people relapse when they come out of prison due to a lack of support.

What happens is you really lose your identity when you go to prison.

And so you come out and if you don't have the resources.

A lot of people go back to prison because they say, hey, at prison, at least I have food, and at least I have a bed, right?

And at least I may have my friends.

But I really appreciate what you all do.

That's a big thing, Elena.

For people have zero overdoses or relapses.

That's really amazing.

And thank you, Counselor Tate, for bringing awareness to this.

Even though I don't have any kids, I don't have a son, but I do know a lot of people that have gone to prison and that have gone really well or they've gone back.

So thank you guys so much.

Thank you, Mayor Whippin.

Um, I don't know a mayor yet that has really put in the energy, the time, and the money to really addressing these three things.

So thank you guys.

Thank you.

I want to get a quick picture before you leave.

Outside.

Thank you.

That is it.

Thank you, Mayor Whitman.

Counselors, that concludes our communications from the mayor.

If I could obtain unanimous consent, we do have presentations today that are part of our agenda.

And if you allow, we'll take up the following presentations.

Counselor Smithman.

I know that you have a presentation this morning highlighting some community work in regards to the greedy house.

And so we'll allow you to make that presentation.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um Jordan and Mom, if you guys would like to come up.

I think your coach was here too.

Where is he?

Is he still here?

No.

Is he going?

Okay.

Well, Jordan Crawford is no stranger to the community.

Um, if you haven't seen him on the field, you do know that you've probably seen articles about Greedy House.

And I'll let Jordan kind of explain where Greedy House kind of came from.

But Jordan Crawford is one of our own.

He's a 2025 graduate of Parker High School, where he graduated with honors and earned a wow, a health care worker credential reflecting both academic discipline and commitment to service.

He continues his academic and athletic journey on a full football scholarship to Auburn University.

I'll say war eagle, um, where he's now as sophomore student athlete and balancing the demands of collegiate football with his long-term vision for impact.

Beyond the field, Jordan is the founder of the Greedy House, a community-driven initiative rooted right here in Birmingham.

He launched using his own NIL earnings, which is amazing because while most young men and women are really, you know, buying cars or houses or things like that, he decided to pour back into the community that raised him.

And so they do everything from food assistance, hygiene supplies, educational tools, making sure that student athletes have programming, community programming, and so much more.

This is driven by the mindset of wake up greedy, a call to pursue purpose, growth, and impact.

Jordan's committed to using his platform to uplift others.

And so I really wanted to just highlight Jordan and just kind of give him praise.

And he can kind of he and his mom, his mom is amazing.

She does everything.

She can talk about this as well.

If Jordan, you can just talk about the vision, how this came about.

Good morning.

So my name is Patsy Crawford.

I am Jordan Crawford's mom.

Um and I also serve as the executive director of the Greedy House.

Um the Greedy House came about.

Jordan started giving back his 11th grade year.

He started with small initiatives and eventually it grew into something bigger.

And we um we started the Central's room in Fairfield at CJ Doll Middle, and then we came back to Birmingham to expand to be able to help not only students but also their families as well.

So we're located at 422, 6th Avenue South, um, right across the street from the city jail.

You can't miss it.

It's a great house, yellow doors, yellow chairs, and it's big gorillas everywhere.

Um the goal was just to be a hook.

Um, we wanted to be able to bridge the gap between resources and our community.

Um, with providing things, we have food um every Wednesday, every first Wednesday, I'm sorry.

School supplies, um, free books.

We have a free library for kids and adults.

Um, we work with different organizations and businesses to um to produce workshops, classes, and just any way that we can think of to be a positive impact in that area.

So our goal is to reach as many first reach as many children as possible, and then also be that backbone for their families.

So not only a safe space, but a familiar space.

One that kind of reminds you of your grandma's house or a family members' house, you can always come to.

So we do free coffee each morning from 9 until 12.

Um, you don't have to buy anything, you don't have to donate anything.

It's free water.

We get a lot of traffic from our neighbors from the city jail and people that's just in transit to and from bus stops to people that are walking the area they stop in.

And we've even we've gotten most of our volunteers from community members who initially needed support, so now they volunteer and they come back and help us every day.

Okay, well, um, and they not only help want to help schools in district six, but all through uh all throughout the city.

Um they're having something called Girl Talk, and it's it's really amazing um what Jordan and his mom are doing, especially as a uh two-man team.

So, Jordan, we're really proud of you.

And um, can you tell us how anybody can support the seniorship?

So we do um monetary donations on our website.

It's a secure checkout, it's wakeupgreedy.com, and then if you want to donate anything like food, hygiene, non-perishables, or books, you can just drop them by the house.

We'll open Monday through Thursday from nine until five.

And if you have a large donation, we prefer that you bring it on a Thursday so that way it doesn't interrupt the flow of the space because it is a small space, so we want to keep it safe.

So if you bring donations on a Thursday, we can immediately go into Swording because we're closed on the weekend and we can get everything moved to storage.

So we're just trying to keep everything in order.

Um, other than that, um, our website has all of our contact information if you want to volunteer and for our upcoming events for the month of May.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I'm so delighted that you brought this presentation to us this morning, Councilor Smithman to Jordan, Ms.

Crawford.

We are just so excited for the work that you're doing in the community.

We hear so much about NIL and what it does and doesn't do, how it benefits and doesn't benefit.

And I'm just excited that both of you wanted to pour back into the city of Birmingham.

And um, I'm just delighted.

Last time I saw you, you were uh here to um receive accolades about Parker High School and the championship.

I was actually next door to your family when they were uh cheering up, cheering you on the night of the game.

So I got to witness some of that just family support and love.

And you struck something with me, and I'm not gonna talk long when you talk about you wanted the place like where you remember where your grandmother was, and I think that really struck and resonated with me.

If you've created that type of space for people in our community, I'm really excited for you.

So congratulations and thank you again.

Thank you.

Okay, Pro Tim, I like to say something.

Um Miss Crawford, I really commend you.

Um and Jordan, I I commend you for, and as Madam uh President has already said, um, you know, you're setting a president for those that receive this name, image, and likeness reward, and you're coming back important to your community.

So I commend you, uh, mother uh for stepping up and just being great and doing great.

And so, Jordan, keep rising and shining.

I have a friend who has a son that plays with you.

Do you know this young man right here?

He plays at Auburn.

What's his name?

I I can't think of his name right now, but he's from North Carolina.

Yeah, so this is one of my good friends' son that's that's signed um with you guys.

So you you should get to meet him, or you probably already know, but I can't think of his name.

I just go blank when I think about all the good things that these young men, you know, are giving and doing, you know, for their community.

I'm gonna come by the greedy house.

I actually was up late one night reading the article, and Councillor Quinn can attest to this, and I put it in there.

I was like, hey, you know about this house that's over in in y'all, you know you and Council, you know, Council Smith and Miss District, so I'm I'm actually gonna come by and check it out.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right, our next presentation.

We have Dr.

O'Quinn.

You have two presentations.

Dr.

O'Quinn, go ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

First up, we have Nyla Jackson, uh, who's a network navigator, and she is going to speak to us about the annual Network Navigator Day for uh during small business week.

Good morning, council, good morning, Madam President Alexander, Madam President Pro Tim Tate, and all of the council members, Mayor Woodfin and his staff.

Um, again, uh, thank you so much for having me.

My name is Naila Jackson, and I am the founder of Network Navigator.

Um, we were birthed in 2023 out of a bold grant from the City of Birmingham, and our continued support has been through Prosper of Birmingham here through uh 2026 and as of January of 2026, we are now a standalone 501c3 organization.

So we thank the City of Birmingham for their support so far.

Um, this work was born out of conversations that I've continued to have with entrepreneurs and small business owners who are continuously frustrated with not knowing where to go, who to talk to, and why they're being rejected for capital access or resources just to get their businesses started.

And so out of that, Network Navigator, the digital platform was born.

And as a result of that digital platform, we now have a day that is in its third annual year called Network Navigator Day.

It has expanded to a few additional days, then one day this year.

Uh the week kicks off as a small business awards, and thank you to the council for your nominations to highlight the small businesses in your district.

Um, and that is Sunday, May the 3rd at the Finnec.

The proceeds from that particular event will go towards the Navigator Startup Fund.

That startup fund was created to support some of the individuals who have been laid off during this year and preceding years.

Um, and they are going to need to start businesses out of necessity and not necessarily out of purpose or passion.

They are in need of a paycheck.

So this particular fund is going to help them establish strong foundations where they get their um business license and their proper structuring.

Um day two is going to be on Tuesday.

We forged a partnership with the Birmingham Public Library where there will be four particular branches.

That is the West End branch, the Citrol Downtown branch.

I'm sorry, the Woodline Branch, the Five Points West branch, uh the North Birmingham branch and the central branch, where Network Navigator will be located for them to access.

That also goes along with some additional programming.

We'll have lunch and learns, round tables, community access discussions.

And the third day is the annual access day again that's in its third year, and I want to thank Councilor Pro Tem for helping me forge the partnership with Max Transit to have free bus passes for any of the citizens who want to attend that day.

Um they're able to um get one of those free bus passes and come down.

But we were able to partner with the Auburn School of Business, Harvard School of Business, to host at the downtown location in District 5.

And we will be at actually it's a block takeover, so we will uh be hosting at the actual Birmingham campus of Auburn University.

We'll kick the day off with a breakfast at the Harvard Center, which is directly next door, and we'll move into the Auburn campus.

Um around lunchtime, we'll go down the block and we'll do a ribbon cutting for the collective on fourth, which is a new event space that is on that same block.

And then we also have some commercial space on that block that the owners have agreed to open up and help the citizens do walkthroughs to reimagine what it will look like to host their business there.

So it's a full day of resources, panels, breakouts, uh workshop sessions, and a few additional other things.

Uh people have an innovation lab where they can come and build apps that have been in their mind that can also help them generate income, also give website access and things of that nature.

So again, thank you to the council for your support to this point, and we look forward to having you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I'll just take this opportunity to also mention that the city of Birmingham's innovation and economic opportunity department is uh having small business week next week as well.

Again, that's May 9th.

I mean May 3rd through the 9th.

And you can find information about all of the events that are happening next week at IEO.

Birmingham AL dot gov.

You can also sign up for Network Navigator Day at networknavigator day.com.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Next up we have Nyla Boiler from Woodlawn United, and she is here to along with students from I3 Academy High School, located in Southeast Lake.

They're here to talk about Woodlawn United Youth Summer Leadership Camp and Learning Series.

Good morning, Council President, Council members, and distinguished guests.

My name is Nyla Bowler, and I serve as the program's manager at Woodlawn United.

And at Will Learning United, our work is rooted in four key pillars economic vitality, cradle to career education, mixed income housing strategy, and community wellness.

These pillars, we are committed not only to uplifting our communities, but also intentionally preparing our next generation of leaders, which is our youth.

So last semester we were here with students from Woodlawn High School, and today I am proud to be joined by the students from I3 Academy High School, who are standing right behind me, who are participating in our youth empowerment series, also known as Yes.

Over the past two months, these students have engaged in professional exposure, interactive learning sessions, and leadership development experience.

This program is a part of our broader youth leadership pathway, which is designed to expose young people to career opportunities, civic engagement, and leadership with their schools, communities, and ultimately the world.

The youth empowerment series is designed to equip students with the tools, confidence, and awareness needed to become active leaders and advocates.

It creates a space where they can learn, ask questions, and begin to see themselves as the change makers of the future.

So today's visit to the city council meeting is a part of our government and civic engagement fields.

It's an opportunity for them to witness leadership in action to understand how decisions are made and how these decisions directly impact our neighborhoods, our communities, and our city.

This experience brings them brings their learning to life.

Yes, it's one part of our larger continuum of leadership program.

This past winter we hosted our winter leadership summit at Woodlawn High School, where students engage with community leaders and youth activists through panels, workshops, and meaningful conversations about leadership, what leadership truly means.

We're strengthening the future of communities, our cities, and beyond.

And thank you for your time, you all's leadership, and for allowing our students to be present in this space today.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

So it's the council's custom that when we have uh scholars in attendance at the meeting that we give them an opportunity to introduce themselves.

Um so we would like to do that.

But I want to ask you first, and especially since we're talking about leadership here, when you come to the mic, speak loudly and confidently.

That's an important aspect of leadership.

We want to know who you are.

We want to be able to hear your name when you say it.

So just words of encouragement.

You guys pick whatever order you want to do, but we want to know who you are, what and what grade you're in.

My name is Kevin Williams, I'm in the 10th grade.

Uh my name, Braithan Ford, and I'm in 10th grade.

Uh my name is Lawrence Martin, I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Chance as I'm in a ninth grade.

Wow.

My name is Kevin Jackson, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Eric Harris, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Jeremiah Dorsey, and I'm in the ninth grade.

My name is Marianne Allen, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is El Zedrayon.

I'm in the tip grade.

Um, my name is Mick and I'm in.

My name is Dia Rice.

I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Jeddah Press, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Zina Killo, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Tamaria, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Jaden and I'm in the 10th grade.

Oh, my name is Kia.

I'm in the ninth grade.

My name is Gary Ayn Jones, and I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Jaden, uh in 10th grade.

My name is Colin Tippett.

I'm in the 10th grade.

My name is Christian Lloyd, and I'm in the 10th grade.

Awesome.

Is that everybody?

All right.

Well, thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr.

Oquen, for bringing both of these uh groups to us today.

Uh, we look forward to Naila and the work that's gonna be done by Network Navigator, and we enjoyed hosting these future leaders this morning.

At this time we have one final presentation, and that is being made by Councillor Sonia Smith, District 8.

All right, good morning.

Good morning.

If we can have Mr.

Gerald McCurdy and Alyssia Walker to come up.

So while they come, today we have members of the TOSS Sigma chapter of Phi Beta Sigma here, along with members of the Sigma Beta Club.

So last week the council graciously um passed a resolution recognizing the founding day the founding of the Sigma Beta Club as April 23rd.

So today I have the honor and pleasure of presenting that to members of the organization.

So I will read the resolution in part.

Whereas the Phi Beta Sigma, the Sigma Beta Club, the official youth auxiliary of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, has served as a pillar of mentorship, leadership development, and community engagement for young men since its founding in the 1950s.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

All right, so at this time I will um allow you to speak and then please introduce the students with us.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm Gerald McCurdy, I'm the coordinator for the Sigma Beta Club.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Tony Oz.

I'm one of the advisors for the Sigma Beta Club.

Good morning.

My name is Harrison Beasley, and I'm a member of the Sigma Beta Club.

Good morning.

My name is Edward Ball, and I'm a member of the Sigma Beta Club.

Good morning.

My name is Christopher Henderson, and I'm a member of the Sigma Beta Club.

My name is Diane West Mill, and I'm a part of a Sigma Beta Club.

All right.

My name is Artelia Samuel, and I'm the president of the Simon Baywaith Club.

Right, Mr.

President.

Good morning.

And I'm uh my name is Jeremiah, and I'm a member of the Sill and Better Club.

Good morning.

My name is Jaden Parker, and I'm part of the Sigma Vader Club.

Thank you.

And so five of Sigma and um Sega Five Beta chapters in Birmingham are housed in District 8.

So we thank you for all of the contributions that you all make to our community.

Thank you so much.

We are very appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Smith, and members of this organization.

Do you want to go ahead and make statement?

I just want to say that uh the Sigma Bay Club Youth Auxiliary.

Uh negative pictures of African American youth often need the news while positive activities go on noticed, but there are many community leaders who are dedicated creating a positive future for our youth.

The tall sigma chapter of Five Edith Sigma Fraternity Incorporated.

We want to teach our boys real manhood to achieve the best and to be positive, to do the right thing, to know how to be a gentleman to respect women, themselves, and other people.

So again, my grandfather used to always say mentoring our youth guarantees a better future.

So again, thank you so much to Council Smith, District 8 for helping us celebrate and recognize our 72nd Charter Day.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Again, thank you, Councilor Smith, for bringing this group to us and bringing these young men and uh the leadership and the learning that they're taking under the organizations that each of you represent.

Um, I know how important youth organizations like these, a lot of our divine organizations such as yours uh do invest in our youth.

Uh back in the old old days.

I was actually a member of the Roar Club, which was part of uh Sigma Gamma Road sorority.

So I know the I know the investment that um and really the learning that happens for these type organizations.

So I know that councillor Smith is very happy to have you all in District 8, and we're very happy to have you uh representing the city of Birmingham as well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And Madam President, I just want to say thank you for what you all do as well because I was actually a Delta Gym.

Um and Delta Gems was uh part of the reason why I learned uh leadership skills, etiquette, college preparation, everything like that.

So they really molded me.

So and I had a lot of lifelong friends out of that program, so thank you.

I know it takes a lot of work uh and a time commitment for Lisa Man, so thank you, and thank you, Councilor Smith, for bringing them today.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Did you want to take a picture?

I'm gonna do it outside.

Okay, I'm gonna go outside.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, counselors, for those presentations.

Um, it's always great to hear of the good work that's going on in our community.

At this time, we will draw our attention back to our agenda, and we will consider the items that are uh up for our review for consent.

All items designated as consent are considered to be routine and non-controversial and will be approved by one motion.

No separate discussion of these items will be permitted unless a council member, the mayor, or a citizen interested in a public hearing so request.

If so, such items will revert to its normal place on the agenda order of business.

All matters of permanent operation that are indicated with a capital P on the agenda will be read.

All other matters will be announced by reading the item number only.

All public hearings will be announced.

Mr.

Clerk, if you will please give us the items that are being considered for consent.

Yes, ma'am.

The uh consent agenda stars on page two with item two.

Please note that um item two on page four, the third entry from the top.

We should withdraw that entry.

It is E N 2026-01120.

Please withdraw that entry.

Then we pick back up with the consent agenda on page 13 with item three.

Page 14, items four, five, and six are on consent.

Page 15.

Items 7, 8, and 9 are on consent.

Page 16.

Items, I'm sorry, item 12 is on consent.

Please note that item number 11 has been requested to be withdrawn.

Page 17.

Items 13, 14, 15, and 16 are on consent.

Uh page 18.

Items 17, 18, and 19 are on consent.

Page 19.

Items 20, 21, and 22 are on consent.

Page 20.

Item 23, as well as items 25 and 26 are on consent.

Page 21, items 27, 28, 29, and 30 are on consent.

Page 22.

Items 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 are on consent.

Please note that on item 31, uh the company should be Cox Pools Service Incorporated.

So we would strike pool chemical supply and should be COPS COX pools service incorporated.

And on page 23, we conclude the consent agenda with items 36, 37, and 38.

And we have one agenda mic.

Yes.

Thank you.

And at this time, counselors, are there any items that you'd like to have add or removed from consent?

Councilor Williams.

Can we add that addendum item number 40 as well?

Actually, I don't know if 10 can be added.

Um I think we have to read 10, but so just number 40.

Okay.

It said number 40.

Yes, there's a request to add that addendum item for consent.

All right, any other items.

All right, thank you.

At this time, we'll entertain a motion and a second or second agenda.

All right.

Yes, sir.

And so am I.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh council member Woods.

Aye.

Thank you, sir.

That vote should be up there.

All right, thank you.

The consent agenda is approved.

If you were here for any items that were listed as consent, they have been approved, and we'll go on to the rest of our agenda.

At this time, Mr.

Clerk, I'd like to ask you to um go to the first open item.

We won't we'll wait for the public hearing and we'll continue with the rest of our agenda before we take up the item number one.

All right, 11 was withdrawn, so the next item should be 24.

I'm sorry.

I apologize, 10.

10.

Item 10, this next an ordinance authorizing the city of Birmingham and the city departments and offices to look to use electronic signatures and the conduct of official business, authorizing the information management services department to maintain oversight of the use of electronic signatures and develop policies and procedures related to the creation and retention of electronic records and authorizing the city clerk to exercise oversight over the retention and conversion of electronic records.

This is an item of permanent operation and so in order to pass, I need you see.

Motion for UC one second, please.

I will also budget and finance approved this item.

Councilor Gunn.

This is for UC.

Council O'Quinn.

All right.

Councilor Smith.

Aye.

Councilor Smillman.

Aye.

Council Member Williams.

All right.

Councilmember Woods.

Aye.

President Pro Tim Tate.

Aye.

Council President Alexander.

Aye.

Motion on the item.

So move.

Second.

Item is before you.

All right.

Thank you, Councillors.

This is an ordinance authorizing the city of Birmingham and our various departments to use electronic signatures in the conduct of official business.

We also discussed this item in budget and finance yesterday.

And do we need any discussion about this item?

Or do you need to know exactly what's going on?

I think we're glad we're moving into the 2000s.

Yes.

We were very excited.

Um Chief, if someone could just be sure that the public is aware of the importance of this.

Um related to Madam President's um, I guess question to Chief Mitchell.

Just giving a brief synopsis of what's before the council.

Okay.

Um I'm sorry, who what was the question?

I just walked in.

Just a brief synopsis of what the proof of council's okay.

All right.

Uh in 2021, the Alabama legislature passed a law to authorize municipalities to use electronic records and electronic or or digital signatures, but only if authorized by the council.

At this time, we're seeking that authorization so that the city can use the electronic records and electronic digital signatures at their option.

Again, this does move us forward into the new century.

Yes.

And so it's think it would really bring some efficiency to allow these electronic signatures.

And so any questions?

All right, Dr.

Quinn.

Um sorry.

Yeah, I would also appreciate the fact that we're you know adopting some modern technology.

Um, you know, folks who've been attuned to um you know the news knows that um, you know, there's been some controversy related to digital signatures and and the authorization of the use of the signatures.

Could so could you just talk briefly about how we protect against uh unauthorized use of signatures?

So once you authorize uh the use of the electronic and it's the use and receipt, so it's us signing and and us to receive electronic signatures, but once you authorize that, then the uh information management services uh department will create the uh guidelines, the policies for use and storage of those uh electronic signatures, and that'll be managed uh by the city clerk.

City clerk uh is a uh custodian of all records, so it'll they'll have to make sure that all those records are secured and uh will work in accordance with the rules and policy set by the information management services division.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Any other questions?

Okay, we're ready for the vote.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Woods, president.

Yes, as well.

That vote should be up.

All right, thank you.

Item number 10 passes, and we appreciate the work that's involved in that.

Next item.

Item 11 is requested be withdrawn.

Um item 24 should be next.

A resolution appointing two members to the Birmingham Public Library Board, said terms expiring December the 31st, 2030.

All right, thank you.

I'll turn this over to the chair of our arts and parts committee to make these appointments.

Thank you.

Yes, so we have two names that we are submitting for appointment to the Birmingham Public Library Board.

That's going to be Niat Nelms and Sam South.

They will be replacing Dr.

Willie Davis, um, whose appointment ended on December 31st, 2025, and then um Sam South is replacing Dr.

John Lyons, whose appointment also ended at the same time in 2025.

So the new appointments will um go through December 31st, 2030.

All right, thank you very much.

Is there any questions about these appointments?

Can we entertain a motion in a second?

So move.

Second.

Are we ready for the vote?

Councilor member Woods.

Aye, council president.

Aye.

All right, the vote should be up.

All right, thank you very much.

We uh acknowledge the appointment of those two members to the library board.

We thank you, Commissioners Commissioner, Councillor Smith, for the work of you and your committee for selecting these um new appointees, and we want to thank both of the individuals that it previously served on the library board.

Thank you very much.

All right, this time Mr.

Clerk, if we'll go back to our first item.

Uh we have not 39 left.

We have 39 and 39.

Okay.

Item 39.

Pursuant to the provision of section 2-3-27 of the general code of the city of Birmingham, Alabama, the Office of the City Attorney.

Hereby gives notice to the city council of the final judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiffs in Justin Stalwood versus the City of Birmingham, the Secret Court of Alabama case number 01 C V 2020-9023850.00.

As to date, payment was processed in additional 512 and 16 cents in post-judgment interest remains outstanding.

It is the intended office of the city attorney to satisfy said judgment in full with funds to come from the account number one 02812000.534013.

All right, thank you.

Are there any questions about this item?

All right, we'll entertain a motion in the second.

That's right, this is on communication only.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Clerk.

Now the next item.

Should be one.

Item one.

An ordinance amending City of Birmingham zoning ordinance Title One General Provisions filed by the Department of Planning Engineering and Permits and the hearing of all parties.

All right, thank you very much.

Before I turn this over to Dr.

O'Quinn, who chairs our planning and zoning committee, I just want to thank everyone who is present today and for taking an active role in the future of our community.

Today's hearing is an important step in our consideration of proposed ordinances to regulate construction operation of data centers, not only in District 7, but within our municipality.

And projects like these can bring substantial opportunities at the same time, and which I am in agreement that they raise very valid concerns about issues such as energy usage, water consumption, environmental impact, infrastructure strain, and long-term community compatibility.

Today, the purpose of this draft ordinance is being read today, is not to halt progress, but to give and also not to give it a blank check.

Rather, it's to ensure that growth is managed responsibly, transparently, and in ways that align with the best interest of residents, both now and in the future.

So this hearing is an opportunity for us to hear from the public.

We want to get your input before we take further action.

We are here to listen.

We're also here to maintain order and to ensure that each of your voices are heard.

So I ask that when you speak, Dr.

O'Quen is going to conduct the public hearing.

But I ask that everyone speaks respectfully, keep their comments focused on the ordinance that is before us.

And at this time, I'll turn it over to Dr.

O'Quinn, who will conduct our public hearing.

Thank you, Madam President.

We'll start by hearing from our staff.

Good morning.

My name is Kim Spurl.

I serve as the zoning administrator in the Department of Planning, Engineering, and Permits.

Good morning, and my name is Hunter Garson.

I serve as the deputy director of the mayor's office of resilience and sustainability.

So we're going to jump right in in an overview presentation.

Many of you have already seen some of these slides before, but after we do the intro, Kim will jump in and kind of give a high-level overview of exactly what is in the new proposed ordinance.

So background, we know data centers are exploding nationally.

Alabama and Birmingham are not immune to that growth.

We're seeing a lot of interest in data centers within the city.

So knowing that as data centers have expanded in their development, we recognize the need to issue a moratorium so that we could get out in front of some of that development and create meaningful regulations that put guardrails on the status center growth while still allowing for it within the city.

So why are we doing this now?

Again, data centers have evolved rapidly in scale and intensity prior to this AI revolution that we find ourselves in.

Data centers were typically smaller housing, local data and servers.

Now we're seeing uh vastly increased computing power, and alongside that, the footprint and impact of the status centers have increased.

So we recognize the need to create regulations around that.

You can see in the slide, there's a kind of medium scale data center, which is what have previously existed in the city and across the country.

Lower slide is a hyperscale data center in Georgia, uh, where you can see that's kind of the top end of how that scale can creep and affect communities around it.

So existing data centers, like I said, have been considerably smaller in scale.

Most local examples today have been around five megawatts or less.

They've been compatible with other commercial or office uses in the area.

But emerging data centers are often much larger, typically between 200 and up to 1200 megawatts.

So that's a closer to a light manufacturing or industrial scale use.

So again, these are growing at a tremendous rate nationally.

This is a meta AI data center in Newton County, Georgia.

Meta's also building one, I think a little south of Montgomery.

Some of these have had considerable community pushback or controversy.

And in worst-case scenarios, like you've seen in Memphis in the news, uh, communities have experienced decreased local air quality, lower property values, and increased energy bills.

So our role as planned planners and policy makers is to take that into consideration, and we've crafted meaningful regulations that do put guardrails on some of those more harmful uses, particularly when it involves water use, local emissions, all of those other factors.

So our intent is to create thoughtful regulations, like we said, while still allowing for this type of development within the city.

As planners, we cannot prohibit a land use that is legal in the United States.

I know sometimes we hear we should just ban data centers.

That's not our job, and it's not what we can do.

Instead, we create guardrails that protect the health safety and wellness of the community.

So considerations when we're developing these regulations, site location, noise regulations, general environmental impact, water usage, and energy use.

So here's our land use policy adoption timeline, just walking you through where we've been.

We had a planning commission workshop in March 11th.

Uh, prior to that, staff spent a lot of time researching best practices from across the nation where other municipalities have already enacted some level of regulation around data centers.

We adapted that, took the best parts of it for what we thought would fit Birmingham, uh, presented that at the planning commission on March 11th.

That went on to the planning and zoning committee on March 24th.

The council set a public hearing on March 31st, and here we are today.

This is a public hearing and final consideration of the draft ordinance.

So, what the zoning amendments address, I'm gonna hand this off to Kim for this part of the presentation.

Thank you.

So the regulations before you today, as Hunter mentioned, um, are to for the city to have thoughtful and guardrails in place so that we can allow data centers but have regulations regarding where they are allowed and conditions regarding some of the environmental impacts.

Um, so the draft ordinance before you does a couple things.

Um, first, our zoning ordinance and city code currently do not define a data center or any of the different tiered levels of data centers.

So we've created definitions for what a data center is and the different types of data centers.

We've also considered infrastructure and utility considerations in the regulations.

We've added those as conditions for a lot of the data center uses.

We also have limited the zoning districts where some of these data centers will be located, and we have also addressed siting standards and land use compatibility in the draft.

So we're gonna hit the data center types real quick that are in your packet that we proposed in this draft.

Um, the first one that you guys probably have not heard a lot about is a fiber hut.

These are smaller enclosed structures that house fiber optic and telecommunications equipment for routing distribution and interconnection of data signals.

As you can see by the images, they're usually very small.

Um they are not large structures, and we have proposed to allow those with conditions in our general commercial manufacturing districts, as well as our MXD districts in use groups two and three.

Um, we have proposed to allow them as accessory uses in all of the other commercial and industrial districts, and then we are proposing that they be allowed by special exception in our neighborhood districts.

So those would be all of our residential and multifamily districts.

When we met with our stakeholders, we found that it is important to include these as a special exception in some of our residential districts because they are needed in some of our areas that are not as close to the urban core that may not have the connectivity and they might be needed in some of these locations.

So our next data center type is an accessory data center.

These are probably the data centers that we might be most familiar with.

They are data centers that are already included in an office or commercial building.

So you might not even know that they are actually in a building.

A lot of the banks, the banking facilities that are in Birmingham and some of the other larger corporations have these types of data centers already integrated into their offices.

So what we're proposing for these data centers is that they be allowed in all of the districts with conditions that are listed.

It's going to be our mixed use districts, our commercial districts, our health and institutional districts, our light, heavy and industrial manufacturing districts, and our MXD commercial use group districts.

And as I mentioned, they we are recommending conditions because they are accessory to a primary use.

One of the conditions is a size limitation that they be no more than 10% of the gross floor area of the building, and that they be on site with the primary use.

So this would not be something that would be across the street or on a separate lot from the primary use of the building.

We also have stormwater requirements, and we also have screening requirements for any mechanical equipment that would be located adjacent to a building.

The next data center, and as you'll see, we're gradually increasing in size and scope for the data centers.

This would be a micro data center.

A micro data center is going to occupy less than 10,000 square feet, and or have an aggregate electrical demand that does not exceed one megawatt.

So these are going to be your much smaller data centers.

As such, we are proposing that they be allowed with conditions in general commercial, health and institutional, our three manufacturing districts, as well as our MXD use groups two and three.

And we also have conditions for the micro data centers.

We are proposing setback requirements if they are abutting any residentially zoned or urban neighborhood districts.

We also have the same stormwater requirements, and you'll see as a theme throughout.

We'll have stormwater requirements for all of the data centers.

We are prohibiting on-site power generation except for emergency backup generators, and we have the mechanical equipment screening requirements for micro data centers as well as the accessory.

So our proposal is that they be permitted with conditions in C2 in the three industrial districts and in MXD use group two and three as well.

We have stormwater requirements in addition to the prohibition of on-site power generation, unless it is solar, and mechanical equipment screening is required in this type of data center as well.

So the ones that I think everyone's been talking about and that have been in the news are the hyperscale data centers.

These are the facilities that are typically more than 200,000 square feet, and they also have an aggregate electrical demand exceeding 30 megawatts.

So the planning team proposed that these be permitted with conditions in I2, I3, and originally in I1 and MXD use group C3.

The Planning Commission and the Planning and Zoning Committee amended the staff recommendation, and they recommended that we remove MXD use group C3 and I1 from permitted with conditions and make those special exception uses.

So that's what you see reflected in the draft before you today.

We do have setback requirements in I-1 and I-3.

We have a minimum separation of 500 feet from any residential zoning district or urban neighborhood district.

Would use the setbacks designated for that residential district.

And you cannot have a five-acre site and then chop it up into smaller lots to have multiple hyperscale.

If you propose one hyperscale, you have to maintain your large lot minimum of five acres for that facility.

And we do define emergency in the regulations.

We're prohibiting on-site power generation except for solar.

We are requiring a landscape buffer requirement, a standard C buffer, which is on our landscaping section of the city zoning ordinance.

The C buffer gives you four options to choose from when you're developing your landscaping plan.

It goes from high density planting to a wall with planting on the outside of the wall.

So it would be up to the developer to choose which type of the buffer they would like.

And we've also introduced lighting requirements.

So just in summary, staff believes that these proposed regulations will protect our existing neighborhoods and the health and quality and life of our residents.

We also think it's important that we establish clear standards and conditions for data center development so we can regulate the types of data centers that come to the city.

We also think that they will allow for innovation and economic growth.

We don't want to ban data centers, but we want to allow them in an economy that is flourishing with data centers across the country, but we want to make sure that we do it responsibly.

These regulations, if adopted, would not be retroactive.

We cannot go back and apply them to existing data centers.

So these regulations, if adopted, would be for any new data centers moving forward.

And any projects that are currently already in the permitting process would continue under the existing rules.

So Hunter and I are here.

We're available to answer any questions that you guys have about the draft ordinance.

I know it's a lot of information, but we'd be happy to answer any questions that you guys have.

So I'd want to also mention planning and zoning staff as well as the representatives from the planning engineering and permits department have been here this morning since 8:30, making themselves available for anyone who has questions.

They are located right across the hallway in conference room A.

So during the course of this conversation, if you have you know specific questions, they're still available.

So I did want to you sort of glossed, you know, you did a summary of the conditions, and again, I think most of the comments that we've heard leading up to this point have been relative to the hyperscale data centers.

So you mentioned some of the important you know considerations that folks have talked about.

Um my recollection is that there are a total of 19 conditions currently for those types of facilities.

Um again, I think most of the those of the comments that we've heard, you know, relative to protecting the surrounding community, protecting um environmental conditions, whether it be air, water, um, even light pollution, all of those things have been addressed in in the ordinance.

And so uh for anyone who hasn't had an opportunity to review an actual copy of the ordinance.

Uh I know the council office has made um a QR code available to to the um to the ordinance.

Um it's the the full ordinance is about 70 pages from what I understand.

Um, but again, if you want to review the actual text of the ordinance prior to us opening up for prompt public comment, uh that is available.

All right, does the council have any questions for staff at this time?

All right, Councilor Gunn.

Yep.

Uh thank you all so much for putting all the effort uh and attention to detail uh into the updating hour zoning ordinance uh for the data centers.

Uh I do have a concern um about the hyperscale data center.

I noticed that we uh included a provision uh that it has to be 500 feet away from any urban neighborhood or residential zoning district.

That's very close uh in my opinion to uh residential.

Um is there any way to increase the amount of space required for a data center, uh especially a hyperscale data center uh to locate further away from any residential districts?

So uh counselor gunn, when we initially began working on the draft, um we were discussing a 1,000-foot separation, and when we held our stakeholder engagement meetings with business leaders, environmental groups, and the community, they actually made a suggestion that they would be comfortable if we decreased that setback to 500 feet.

Um so we actually did take some of their feedback into consideration from the draft, and that was one of the considerations that they asked us was to reduce that to 500 feet.

Was there what was the I'm I'm trying to follow the logic behind reducing it from a thousand to five hundred?

I think with the other 18 conditions, including the pre- and post-noise study, the lighting requirements, um, as well as some of the other requirements, they felt comfortable with the reduced setback requirement.

Um, and then I would also add that the majority of the properties in I2 and I-3 do not abut single family residential or urban neighborhood districts.

Um, as you guys know, we've taken the opportunity to down zone a lot of our heavy industrial property, and so we don't have a lot of properties that are would fit in these categories that abut residential.

Okay.

Councilor Smith.

Okay, well, thank you for answering the question about the change and the distance because I was wondering that as well from the draft to what we have now.

Um I appreciate that we have all of these conditions, um, and I see that you have our city engineer that's going to go out in the beginning to make sure that certain conditions are met.

Will there be any kind of regular inspection or annual review to make sure that the disposal of products and the type of generators and number of generators that they have there that they are still in compliance with what this ordinance says as you guys know, we do have there will be multiple divisions and departments involved in reviewing and reviewing all the information that will be submitted with 19 conditions from engineering to stormwater to zoning.

We feel that it'll be a staff effort as we review all of the submittals.

Once these facilities are constructed, we do plan to maintain our typical enforcement.

We have code enforcement, zoning enforcement.

We also have noise complaints that can be directed towards the police department, and we also have our stormwater team that if there are any complaints about water into the city stormwater system, they can do routine sampling to make sure that that's not occurring.

So these would be initiated by someone complaining and not by us proactively checking the these things out.

I think initially it would be a combination of both.

As you know, it's gonna take it takes a while for some of these facilities to be developed.

So our inspection staff and PEP will be on site daily to monitor the construction to make sure that they are meeting all the conditions that are in the regulations.

Once the facility is built and the inspections are complete, um, I believe our team will continue to monitor these facilities just because it is new, um, a new use for the city, and so we'll continue to do that, and then eventually it will turn into more of a complaint-driven, like our other uses are across the city.

Great, thank you.

And then one other question.

Is there anything in here about the amount of land that might be cleared for the purpose of building a data center?

So we have the size requirement for the the size of property it has to be.

Okay, so they so there's really no limits to how much land they can clear, but they just have to stay within the buffer requirements.

That's correct.

Okay, all right, thanks.

Okay.

Um thank you again for the work that you've done on this ordinance.

I do want to look at um looking at the draft and noting the number of I guess are we calling them Q conditions at this point or conditions that these centers would have to operate under?

Um, I do want to ask about when it comes to backup power and generators and the amount of noise that might be emitted uh from these.

And I see that our the draft will require a description of noise mitigation uh measures.

How will this be monitored?

Is there a period of time that will require those generators to be turned on so that we can always continue to ensure that the noise levels are within our guidelines and how would we measure that?

So with backup generators, they have to uh obtain a special permit uh for backup power generators uh explicitly for that through ADEM and the EPA, and the EPA regulates that backup generators cannot be used for more than 100 hours annually.

So they would submit a testing schedule for us, and they can't exceed the testing requirements of that EPA permit.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

All right, just just the follow on um to that question.

It's my understanding that part of the issue with the data center in Memphis, Tennessee is the they're using turbine engines for the data center, and um understanding is that the EPA does not currently regulate those types of generators.

So uh thank you, great question.

Um item number 10, we prohibit any on-site power generation except for solar.

So uh with this ordinance, they could not use natural gas turbines or any other means of on-site power production aside from solar.

Um and with solar, we're not naive to the fact that on the footprint of most data centers, you even if you max out the roof, you could not generate the necessary power demand.

It would instead probably be used as a supplemental source uh or charging a backup battery to decrease like peak load demand.

Um this is one of the first ordinances I've seen in the country where we take this step of prohibiting that on-site power generation, and that's specifically with the Memphis example in mind.

Okay, so with respect to so we don't allow in the context of this ordinance, it would not allow any on-site power generation with the exception of solar.

Um but for emergency power generation, um are we restricting that to other types of generators, or is it just not um feasible, you know, or practical to use something other than you know, a diesel power generator?

Right, and in our discussions with the stakeholders like DC blocks being our um best local example on who we uh worked with the most closely, it's just you know, in those sort of shutdown backup emergency situations, like solar is probably not gonna do it, and they do have to have that instant on demand that's best provided by um natural gas for diesel generators.

Okay, other questions from the council.

Um one other thing I did think of.

Um so another common question that we've had is what happens in the event that we have an existing data center that would you know comply with all of the uh conditions for the appropriate scale of the data center, but their intention is to scale the facility up and move into another category.

Um what would happen in that scenario?

So, for example, if there was a micro data center that wanted to expand to a hyperscale data center, they would have to comply with all of the hyperscale conditions and the zoning designations where they're allowed.

So it would just it would essentially be like they're starting from scratch, you know, they've got to comply with everything that all the conditions appropriate for the scale.

That's correct.

Since we're defining each type of data center, it's its own use.

So it would be if you're going from a micro to a hyperscale in zoning world, we would consider that to be a new use.

So you would have to comply with the regulations for that use.

Okay.

Counselor Smith.

Okay, so adding to that question, because we're not having regular inspections.

How do we know if a data center opened in one particular site category and then a few years later decided they wanted to scale up?

How would we know that they were doing that?

We would check it through our permitting process.

Um they would have to apply any expansion that would involve um clearing or erosion control or building permits would trigger a zoning review so our team would be aware if they were expanding, and then we would apply the new standards.

Council Woods.

Uh thank you.

Uh appreciate the work y'all put into getting this done so quickly, but I have a question around it.

I do think the requirement around closed loop systems, cooling systems is important.

Uh my understanding is that those have to be the water that will have to be replaced a couple times two to four times a year, I would say.

Uh I am interested in ensuring we have something in place to ensure that that water that's being taken out of the closed loop system is disposed of properly.

Uh no, we have like I said we've got some storm water uh requirements in here that they can't utilize the stormwater system, but you know, just having some visibility that we can be a little more confident that that water is being disposed of properly.

That's all I guess.

I think the closed loop system is important to protect the water supply itself, but uh we you know don't want those chemicals or anything going back into the system, and so are there plans for you know PEP in terms of inspections to have that a little more front burner?

So we we actually discussed this earlier.

Um so the facilities will have an option.

Um some of the facilities coordinate with Jefferson County Environmental Services on that system and how they discharge the water back into the sanitary sewer system.

Um since we don't regulate that, that would not be something that PEP would regulate.

We also um are aware that a lot of the data center operations contract with private companies for the discharge of that.

So those would be their options because we're not going to allow them to discharge into our systems that we regulate.

Uh is there any kind of notification process when they're changing those uh we're gonna be um taking out the the water that needs to be replaced.

Do they have to notify anybody that that's happening?

Um is there anything that would trigger them to can we make that a requirement?

Have you seen that as a requirement anywhere just so there is an awareness of uh because I think you've mitigated most of the concerns that have come up, but you know, ensuring that I mean, you know, chemicals get back into the waterway is a concern, and so just making sure that I know on paper, I think we've accounted for that, but uh I think you know definitely need to have something in the process to have eyes on that, ensuring that it's happening properly.

So I think in in some of the conditions when they are getting their building permit, they are required to give us a detailed plan for how they're going to address those issues.

I don't know, we don't have a requirement that they have to notify us when it occurs, but they do have to provide their plan for all of the water usage and the discharge for the site at the beginning of the permitting process.

All right.

Any additional questions before we move on to our public hearing, Councilor Smith?

Thank you.

Um, Mr.

Chair, have we received any new applications since we've started this process?

New building permit applications?

Yes, for data centers.

To my knowledge, we only have the two active permits.

Okay, do you foresee us getting any applications in the near future?

I can say, you know, our office, the zoning team does receive telephone calls that are general inquiries about what is and isn't allowed on properties.

Um, so it's hard to say if anyone's going to submit a permit next week.

But I would say that over the past year, um inquiries as to data centers, especially in the past six months, has increased in as far as what zoning districts they would be permitted in, and does the city have any regulations?

Okay, and I know you guys have studied other cities and their ordinances.

How successful have other cities been once they have implemented these ordinances and had to address new applications?

I think it's it's somewhat hard to say because this is so new.

Like a lot of these municipalities have implemented these regulations or ordinance modifications within the last year typically, and it's been reactive to lots of data center development interest in those areas.

Um I I can say like Lowndes County, Virginia, uh it's often called data center alley.

They sort of created a zoning district specifically targeting attracting data centers because of the density of like high-speed internet that was in the area, and they've been quite successful in doing that, and those data centers have followed their regulations and been in those appropriate zoning districts where there doesn't seem to have been large-scale community outcry against them.

Okay, um, I'm sure maybe somebody has asked this question as my last question.

What are the environmental impacts for each level of data centers?

That's a it's a fairly big question in that the environmental impacts are it's directly related to scale, and typically as they increase in scale, so do the environmental impacts.

However, it's not always one-to-one that you know there could be a smaller megawatt data center that is more impactful than a larger one.

But in general, that holds true.

But by implementing things like closely water systems, you eliminate a lot of the thirstiness for lack of a better term of these data centers.

And the other is local emissions.

So by prohibiting the on-site power generation, you do limit that local demand.

And then you know at a larger meta scale, it has to do with emissions and power generation.

So thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I I just want to follow up off of what Council Woods was asking about the closed loop cam.

I did my understanding that you do say that the company would have to submit a plan around a closed loop.

I think for me and you do say that they would contract out to a third party.

Um, would there be a requirement that you guys will require, like who are you contracting out?

Yes, council will say to properly dispose, you know, of the the water.

So would it be something that they would have to put into their plan, like what company that they're using, or could we require that in be put into the plan?

I don't think the currently the conditions don't get as detailed as as the company that we required in the plan, um, but that is something that we would ask for when we're reviewing their plan, especially to ensure that they are not going to impact the city systems.

Um so that is something we can consider when we're I think our goal with all of these conditions.

Um, obviously, Hunter and I are not the subject matter experts in all 19 of these proposed conditions.

So when we get a proposal for a hyperscale data center, we'll have a team, someone from stormwater from engineering, from zoning, from ORS, from different departments within the city, and then we will provide feedback to the applicant as to what additional details we would like to see in all of these submittals, and I think that's something that we definitely need to include in that.

Thank you.

Yeah, and just as a follow-on to that, as was mentioned earlier, um the sanitary sewer system for Jefferson County is regulated by the Jefferson County Commission.

Um, so the city of Birmingham is not a all encompassing entity for uh addressing every you know concern related to these types of facilities.

Um we is it specifically relates to discharge of wastewater, that would be a conversation um to have with the the county commission.

Is that correct?

Yeah, we would look to environmental services for their direction.

Um, and and I know that we've had conversations about um potential new data centers having that arrangement with them.

We have not had detailed discussions about whether that's something they would approve or if they would prefer it be uh private party.

But we would um we would have those conversations with environmental services, we would direct any applicant to environmental services.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

All right, any further questions for staff from the council.

All right, we will now move on to our public hearing.

Um just want to preface this by saying what is before us today is uh amendment of the zoning code to include all of the things that were included in the uh presentation in this the city's zoning code.

Um so I respectfully ask that if you wish to speak during the public hearing that you restrict your comments to what is before us at this time.

Um if you stray from that, I'm going to interrupt you.

I'm not trying to be rude, but you know, we're trying to be respectful of everyone's time and make the best use of our time.

So please keep your comments germane to the business before us.

Um, and that is the proposed amendment of our zoning code.

Um again, during the course of this conversation, if you have any questions specifically that you want to ask of staff, they're across the hall uh in conference room A, and I believe they'll they'll be here you know after the meeting as well.

Um just by show of hands.

How many people intend to to speak at the public hearing this morning?

Okay, that sounds looks manageable.

Um I guess one other thing that I would put out there is is that um the the council is not going to respond to any comments relative to pending litigation, um and I'll just leave it at that.

So don't re expect any sort of reaction or uh response um if you choose to make a comment about that, and I would advise you not.

Um but in any case, just want to put that out there.

So this is a public hearing.

If you would like to speak for or against or make comments or ask questions about the proposed ordinance, we ask that you line up on this side of the council chambers, and um as you approach the lectern, please remember to state your name and address, and you will have three minutes to make your comments.

The time will be displayed on the monitors behind us.

The screen will change colors as you're approaching your three-minute mark.

Um, so first speaker, please.

My name is David Craig.

I am a resident of the Oxmo Valley, and uh we live I live in the Mountain View Forest uh community, and I came out to hear about the data center.

What I've heard is impressive.

I'm thankful to our city for the due diligence that they have put forth to make sure that the center is an asset and a liability to our community.

I'm in favor of the the data center.

We have all these young children that was here today going to school when they graduate.

We need them to reside in Birmingham, work in Birmingham, have a good paying job in Birmingham.

I'm at the age of retirement, and many of us in the age of time, but our children, we got Lawson State, Miles College, UAB, and the efforts that the Birmingham City Schools is making to improve education so our children can be properly prepared to assume these jobs that are coming to our neighborhood.

You can remain the same and grow at the same time.

Everything that we do is gonna have some setbacks, and I want to thank the city for what I've heard today and provide a due diligence for the data centers on all levels.

And so I, as one resident in the Oxmo Valley, I'm pleased to have the Nether Center to come to our area.

I'm for our children having a good education, and then once they're educated, they have an opportunity to get employed with good paying jobs.

Uh technology is changing, the job centers are uh happening all across the country, and so this is what's happening.

So years ago, we were building steel mills and coal mines.

Now it's a different type of employment, and so I welcome the data center and the due diligence that the city is making towards making the center, these centers available in our community safe environment, and so everything that we do, they are risk and it's so I'm for moving forward with it, and I welcome the uh the data center into our neighborhood.

And so I'm thankful for the city council and the mayor for what you're doing to bring employment to our city.

We need good jobs in our city, and when we do due diligence and making sure that everything is in place, then we can have that.

Our children need a good place to work and to contribute to the tax base.

We don't need prisons, we need good jobs.

That's what I'm here for that to say there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yep.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Um give you a little leeway, but just as a reminder for the folks following behind you.

We want to keep the comments relative to the proposed ordinance that's before us.

So thank you.

Next speaker.

Thank you.

My name is Charles Miller.

I'm the policy director at the Alabama Rivers Alliance.

We're based at Avondale at 4439 Fifth Avenue South, and my wife and I are residents of Highland Park.

Um I've lived in the city for more than a decade, and the fact that our city counselors care about the well-being of their constituents is a really big part of why I'm happy to live and work in Birmingham.

Uh Alabama Rivers Alliance supports this ordinance.

This timing puts our city at the cutting edge of data center regulation in Alabama.

The substantive requirements of the data center also put us at the forefront of data center regulation in the state.

Your planning and sending staff have done a good job pulling together a lot of information from a lot of different jurisdictions, so we appreciate that.

I will say, just a point of clarification.

We would support a thousand-foot setback.

That would be what we were looking for.

Um, just to clarify that.

And if you'll indulge me for just a moment, I'd like to tell a story about why comprehensive data center regulation is so important.

Uh last year I attended Slostech, which is our local technology conference.

One of the speakers at Slostech was the former head of marketing for OpenAI, the company behind Chat GPT.

I asked him what I thought was pretty straightforward question.

What a big companies, where what are big tech companies that build hyperscale data centers owe communities where they chose to locate them given the fact they have the potential to use so much power and so much water?

And I was really blown away by his answer.

He told me that they he thought they didn't owe these communities anything except a fair wage during construction, and you'll know he said a fair wage, not a living wage.

So it almost goes without saying that there's some unscrupulous actors in this space.

We don't have to look far.

Memphis, Tennessee, as Councillor Quinn mentioned, South Haven, Mississippi, even Bessemer, Alabama, right here in Jefferson County, to find companies that would rather move fast and break things than work with communities.

Adopting a comprehensive ordinance like this that puts meaningful restrictions on data center development is assigned to those bad actors that Birmingham isn't giving big tech a blank check.

We urge you to adopt this ordinance, and we thank the city council and the planning and zoning staff for all of their work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

I didn't come to speak on the issue, but my name is Artist Murphy.

Let me give you a little history on this audience.

In 1950, IBM and American Allies got together to build the first data center as we know today.

The reason that they got together to deal with reservations and phone calls.

Data centers has been around for over 75 years.

Okay, let's you're not gonna hear this from anybody else.

I refuse to let big companies make a fool out of my city and my city government.

Okay, let's just get clear.

Anything I say, you can go read yourself, okay.

What do you think Silicon Valley was?

Data Center.

What do you think Apple had six billion dollar headquarters is data center?

What they are doing is what they've been doing a long time.

The South has always been rich and intelligence people and land and resources.

What they're doing now is okay.

We see a better use for Alabama and the South more than building prisons.

What I need you all to do, please.

Okay, I'm here.

This is my love speaking for you.

I'm speaking up for you.

I want you to go to New York and you travel that corridor down through Jersey, Philly, all the way into DC.

I just left DC.

I go to a horse race there every year in Middleburg, Tennessee.

I'm all I love horses.

This is what a Kennedy compound is.

Some of the richest people in the world.

Let me tell you, this is already done.

So don't let them take no games with you.

They got they already are building data cities.

Okay.

Everywhere in DC is data centers.

They are on their way to building data cities.

Okay.

I just want to inform you.

What we are facing is don't let anybody make a fool out of you because this is what they don't tell us.

This has been a done deal for 70 years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning.

I'm Keith Williams.

I'm the co-founder of Voters Legal Justice Watch Group.

We're located in downtown Birmingham.

Let me just say this for the record.

While I support this ordinance, I carry with me some concerns.

And one of the things I want to point out is that we've been told different sets of information from different entities.

And as a citizen, the resident of Birmingham here, we're going to make sure that all of the stakeholders that are involved have the same message and not different batches of information because it can confuse people.

So everything that we do, we count the cost.

It doesn't necessarily mean that cost involves money.

But we want to make sure that accountability and transparency is in the forefront of this ordinance.

That the people of Birmingham or Jefferson County are ensure that there is accountability, transparency, and oversight in the insurance that once this ordinance goes to effect that it is enforceable, there is oversight, and that there is no harm to the environment.

Especially if we have a data center of this magnitude that's coming into a residential neighborhood, that is very alarming.

It's like a walking distance from a house.

So in conclusion, I just like to say that the key words that you guys need to be mindful of when passing this type of ordinance is accountability, transparency, and oversight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Just uh comment on that.

So of course, you know, when it comes to accountability, we're not in this by ourselves, you know.

It's on you all to hold us accountable.

So you know, government at any level should never just be about telling folks, you know, hey, go off and do that, and I'm gonna forget about it.

That's not the way this works.

Um it's on you all to hold us accountable.

And as I mentioned earlier, some of the concerns are not within the purview of the city of Birmingham to you know address or enforce.

So want to touch again on the discharge of wastewater into the sanitary sanitary sewer.

So again, that's sanitary sewer belongs to Jefferson County that is governed by the Jefferson County Commission.

So I encourage you if you have that concern, please reach out to your county commissioner and communicate that concern to them.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

All right, good morning.

I'm glad you said something about accountability because I'm gonna hold air about accountable.

The state, the county, and the city.

But since I'm in.

Oh, Robert Banks, Entrepreneur.

I'm going to hold a city accountable right now because we're in front of the city.

I ain't in front of the county.

So we had that meeting now go in front of them.

And we go to the state, I'll go in front of them.

But right now, I'm finna hold all y'all accountable.

Because I'm mad at everybody.

All right.

Here we go.

Data's gonna.

We know it ain't gonna be no good.

They ain't finna get nothing back to no laws of the state.

They ain't finna get nothing back to we know.

They ain't gonna do nothing over there at Oxmo Valley that's gonna entice or bring the people together.

They didn't already told you that.

Mr.

Those concerns are outside the context of the conversation today.

The conversation today is about the ordinance that's before us.

That's what I'm getting on.

You ain't disrupt nobody else, so why are you disrupting me?

Respect is due to anybody.

I hold you respect, not show me some respect.

Your time is running.

Okay, you interrupted my time.

Now you just interrupted my time.

Please stay on topic.

Okay, I'm on the topic.

This is not between me and you.

This is the community.

I'm holding everybody accountable.

Like I say, we got Bombayam, Murderham, Afghan.

That's what we go on the end of the NAPAC is not gonna do anything for us.

We already know that.

We already get fluoride to God to water.

So how are we gonna know if they're gonna do the water right?

They ain't.

They don't have no regulations.

They don't need no regulations.

This already gonna be granted.

I don't know why we're here anyway, because at the end of the day, it's gonna get approved.

No matter how much we try to fight for, it not to be here, it's gonna get approved.

They just said that line.

We want a thousand feet.

We don't want no 500, we went over a thousand.

And at the end of the day, we know that if some people that over there hold positions like y'all do, y'all are gonna approve anyway, because the real big issue is y'all won't hear.

Now the next car.

All right, next speaker, please.

Good morning, Mayor.

Um, council members.

Uh, my name is Rob Sansom, and I live at 3962 Sydney Trail in uh the Grand at Oxmore.

Um, this is an academic for us.

Um our home is 800 feet from what is being constructed right now.

Um, so we are already experiencing some of the uh uh the effects of that.

But let me get back to the um uh purpose at hand.

So um first my comments will focus on three gaps in the draft ordinance uh that I think if not addressed will undermine the state of purpose.

First, the 30 megawatt threshold for hyperscale classification is too high.

Um high density compute facilities routinely operate between 10 and 30 megawatts in uh compact footprints under this draft, a 29.9 megawatt facility, equivalent in noise water demand and grid uh impact to a small hyperscale.

Uh falls into the medium tier and avoids the noise study.

Uh the lighting standards, the utility rate disclosure, as well as the 500 foot setback that applies to hyperscale.

And like one of the speakers before me, uh, yes, I strongly recommend more than a 500-foot um space.

I recommend lowering the hyperscale threshold to 10 megawatts, uh, or adding a power density trigger to capture facilities that are physically small but electrically intense.

Second, medium data centers have no noise and lighting standards at all.

Um section eight uh of the hyperscale considers or requires pre-construction of post-construction noise studies.

Section 19 sets white transpass limits.

So uh please have a look at that.

Medium data centers, which may operate up to 30 megawatts, have neither.

Uh a 25 megawatt facility could legally operate next to homes.

Uh schools, hospitals with no acoustic um compliance demonstration.

Um I recommend applying both sections to the medium data centers.

Third, the noise study requirement has no substantive standard behind it.

Section, or I recommend adding quantitative noise limits at the property line, including limits on low frequency noise, which we experience already below 200 Hertz on frequencies above 800,000 Hertz.

Specify measurement methodology and require continuous monitoring at sensitive receptors.

Okay.

One additional point, the hyperscale 500-foot setback again applies only to I1 and I3 zoning.

The I2 heavy industrial, the facility need only meet the setback of a budding district.

A 300 megawatt facility could legally site immediate adjacent to a hospital under the current language.

Excuse me for going over a little bit on time, but this is really critical.

I know we've got one going up, but uh thank you all for at least considering putting some wireframe around the future ones, but also please don't ignore us from the one that we got going.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you for keeping your comments uh relative to the ordinance.

Appreciate that.

Mr.

Chair, is there any way we can get a copy of this um of this?

Yes.

Um, if you if you would somebody get us attention, please.

Ms.

Hanson.

Mr.

Sampson, um, if you would be so kind, if you could, it would be helpful to us if you would um put your uh comments in written format and and send them to the to us so that we can follow up on that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, got it.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Hey, good.

Good morning, Mayor, members of the council.

I am Jay Reed, proud citizen of this great city, and also here this morning on behalf of associated builders and contractors, associated general contractors, and the Birmingham Construction Industry Authority.

This morning, each of you received some information information from our group about the zoning of data centers, the positive aspects of a data center, and how cities and data centers can move forward together for the betterment of the community across the U.S.

Today that is being done.

So this morning, on behalf of these groups, I just encourage that we send a message to data centers that Birmingham is open for business.

We have guidelines, we have policies, but we are welcoming and want to move forward with them along with the needs of the community.

And so that's our encouragement today, and thank you for the consideration.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Next speaker.

Council President, Council Pratin, Counselors, Mayor, good morning.

My name is Terry Chapman, and I'm the director of public policy for the Birmingham Business Alliance, located at 2117 and 2nd Avenue North.

And I want to be clear.

With that said, we would strongly encourage a delay to benchmark this ordinance against other cities, engage industry experts, and make sure we strike the right balance between protecting our community and positioning our region for future growth.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, next speaker.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Barbara Jackson.

I'm the grassroots organizer.

With the Greater Birmingham Alliance to stop pollution, the acronym is gas, which means to breathe.

We're located at 2320 Holland Avenue South, suite to 70.

Our ED, Jalisa Midton sends her apologies for her absence today.

First, we would like to say the special exceptions category, the hyperscale data center allows residents to give their input when the city is considering zoning.

The concern we have is that the use of gas generators may increase the cumulative impact that already exists on distressed and disproportionate communities that already are being impacted by the pollutants in Title 5 industries.

For example, those in the superfine communities, we know which ones those are college via Fairmont, etc.

There have already been examples of generators being used that have excessively caused harm to communities.

For example, we know about Elon Musk in the its AR communities, those in Tennessee and Mississippi that have already been mentioned.

There are reports of possible emissions, such as nitroxids for maldehyde and other toxic pollutants linked to cancer and respiratory illnesses.

So we're asking you guys to keep the citizens of Birmingham in mind when we're making these decisions that might impact the citizens.

So we thank you for your consideration, and I want to thank the council for their time.

And I want to thank Kim and the and uh Hunter for all of their study and the research that they have done.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning, City Council.

My name is Trevor Sutton.

I'm the Chief Economic Development Officer for the Birmingham Business Alliance.

Our address is 2117, 2nd Avenue North.

Um I want to first commend city staff and the mayor for this thoughtful but also very efficient and fast moving process that's well ahead of the six-month moratorium, which I think shows the speed and efficiency of his office.

Uh I I do we do recommend and see that this new ordinances address the legitimate concerns of the community.

But we also know that data centers are critical to how we're going to compete in this modern economy and continue to grow our region.

From an economic development standpoint, there are some provisions in the proposal that we uh highly recommend to take a closer look at and engage experts on experts on, whether that's around setbacks, any additional approval process, the power generation restrictions, as well as the hyperscale threshold, um, that these may have uh some consequences around our competitiveness as we continue to move forward.

It's worth taking a closer look at.

I think it's also important to think about the sites in Birmingham that could realistically support this type of development are brownfields that we have long wanted to be put back in productive use.

And should additional regulations limit any future opportunities there, I think could be a miss.

You know, our concern is not that this ordinance regulates, it should.

Our concern is that the provisions is written could discourage the development and community investment rather than just shape it.

I think there's also a broader signal that's worth considering that when zoning and use steps outside of kind of the standard industrial areas adds a separate layer of complexity, it can uh impact how consultants and companies view Birmingham, not just for data centers, but across the board, and clarity and predictability are part of what makes a market competitive.

National business community is taking notice.

I've had multiple calls with companies and consultants from across the country who are just tracking how this works.

So the stakes are high.

Um, and I think it's worth taking a little bit more time to get a closer look and engage utility experts and industry experts on how we can continue to remain competitive so that everyone in this room gets what they want, which is smart, responsible development that benefits our community.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning.

My name is Ryan Anderson, and I'm a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Our address is 2829 2nd Avenue South Birmingham, Alabama.

And I'll start on a personal note.

Um, this time last week, I was before the Bessemer City Council, and I just can't express how happy I am to be before the Birmingham City Council today, and expressing my gratitude and really witnessing an entirely different strategy and approach to data center development in our state.

It makes me proud to be a resident of this city.

And I'm really just pleased with where y'all have landed with this ordinance.

Starting with the substance of the ordinance and the processes behind it, SELC is in full support of this ordinance.

As a regional organization, we have offices across the Southeast, and we work on data center development in each of those offices, including Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia.

And with that context in mind, I'm proud to say that the city of Birmingham is a leader in this space in terms of employing a public process where you herd out community members and put in place are hopefully going to put in place common sense protections.

The City of Birmingham, when presented with the reality that our laws did not match up with this 21st century industrial boom, punt the brakes.

The City Council took a step back, listened to constituents at various public hearings, and is now presenting an ordinance that provides key protections for communities and the environment.

This should be a model for cities and counties across the state and across the country.

Responsible development includes community determination.

And here the city employed a process that took into account concerns that folks in our city have about noise, air and water pollution, and infrastructure costs.

Community determination is critical.

One of the key pieces of this ordinance is that hyperscale data centers that want to locate in a mixed use or light industrial district will have to go through a special exception process where both the city and the community will have a say in whether the development fits in their neighborhood.

However, every hyperscale data center should have to go through that process, and that's exactly what we advocated for in the stakeholder meetings.

And just for the record, no environmental group that was present at those stakeholder meetings endorsed a 1,000 or a 500-foot setback as it was proposed to us, it was a thousand feet, and we support that.

And just following the example you set for yourself, I challenge all to listen to what your constituents have to say about the Nebus Data Center.

I want you to do everything in your power to make sure their voice is accounted for, and I want these common sense protections to apply to every data center developer for the protection of every citizen.

Please vote yes on this ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, I am Stephanie Salvago.

I reside off of Highland Avenue.

I have will be very brief.

Thank you guys so much for your time and attention to this.

There's a lot of talk about the stakeholder meeting.

My questions revolve around that.

Who was invited to attend these meetings?

Who actually attended the invitee list?

How was that invitee list created?

Were minutes taken and will those be available to the public?

And if you don't know these answers, who can we reach out to to find them?

Thank you.

So my understanding is that those meetings were coordinated by the planning and zoning staff.

They are available right now in conference room A, which is located immediately across the corridor from the council chambers.

So all right, great.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning, Council.

President Warding, members of the Council, Mayor Wook, and then your staff.

If I may gray up a couple of minutes her time to answer a question that Council Smithman asked about gold standards, and I think the guy mentioned Lyon County was one of the gold standards.

I want you to know that Lyne County, one of the strictness has a thousand feet setback for residentials.

So if you're looking at gold standards, look at it in depth.

Also, one of the other gold standards, Prince William.

They have designated pre-designated areas from neighborhoods.

But Lion County does request require a 1,000 set back from residential.

Again, good morning.

To protect our neighborhoods from the impacts of data centers, we have to move beyond the basic zoning.

What has been done today is great, but we still need a little bit more comprehensive framework that ensures real intentional separation between data centers and residential communities.

Our framework plans, those that have been approved for a number of years, should be revised revisited and ensure that it be rezoned to clearly designate where data centers belong.

And just as importantly, where they do not belong.

A better approach would be to concentrate data centers into industrial quarters.

This would prevent the gradual spread of these facilities into residential neighborhoods.

But then if we create these quarters, we also need to ask ourselves would there be limits on how many facilities can locate there?

Will there be caps on the hyperscale size tied to specific areas?

If we're looking at long-term planning approach, I would like to suggest a couple of definitions that I did not hear be added to this ordinance.

One is co-location.

In the ordinances, it talks about no leasing, no third parties, but do we actually define co-location data centers?

Another definition would be modular data centers.

This is something new.

This is a portable data center that gets deployed wherever you may need it.

And lastly, edge data centers, which are smaller facilities placed close to it.

These are not hypothetical, they are already being used.

If we don't plan for now, we will always be reacting instead of leading.

When it comes to the accessory and smaller data centers, there are clear gaps.

There are no meaningful size limits.

In some cases, they're allowed without special exception permits near residential areas.

And setbacks have been reduced from 250 down to utilize district setbacks.

A district set back in a residential area could be 50 feet.

So that is a major concern.

And importantly, many of the core impact issues are not being addressed consistently in all these data centers, like noise, set noise limits, electrical infrastructure, stormwater discharge was covered on site generations.

I think all these categories that are listed in hyperscale should basically somewhere apply to every category.

For medium data centers, that should be a permit special exceptions category.

Right now, there's not one.

It's basically with the conditions, but your community would not know it.

A 30 megawatt facility is not medium in terms of neighborhood impact.

It is significant, yet these can still be approved in ways that place them close to a residential area, sometimes with only 200 feet separation.

Previously, it was 500 feet and got changed along the way.

That is item 7 on your medium data centers.

This is a major setback.

And then finally, with hyperscale data centers.

Why has residential setbacks been reduced from 1,000 to 500?

We heard Kim talk about that.

But again, line county, your gold standard requires a thousand feet setback from residential.

Why do transit stations receive greater protection buffers than neighborhood where families live and children go to school?

It's not permitted within a thousand feet.

Now this started out at 2640, it went down to 1320, and now it's a thousand.

So why would we not require more in residential instead of where you catch the bus?

Also, noise mitigation.

Yes, ma'am.

Please wrap up your comments.

You're over your time.

And while I have your attention, um, you mentioned two localities that have like our gold standards.

Uh can you please give us more information about the where where those localities are?

He got, I think his name Hunter brought it up.

Lyme County is that in Missouri or where is that one?

Virginia, Virginia.

Okay.

Lyme County.

Lyme and LIA.

Okay.

I was close.

Okay.

All right.

And if they they require a thousand-foot setback.

But noise mitigation, there's no action measurable limits, hours of operation, there are none, and verification of infrastructure is it says that it's available on paper, but how do we know it exists?

Thank you so much.

Let's make it a priority, not a continued afterthought to protect the neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council.

My name's Josh Starns.

Our Union Hall is off 9th Street North, and I'm here speaking in regards to the data center development in Birmingham and the economic impact for our great community.

Data centers are not abstract projects.

They are measurable economic activities and growth.

They create a demand for local contractors and skilled trades, including installation, mechanical and popping work, safety and quality control, plus long-term operational support for facilities after they are running.

That means jobs, wages, and the sustained work for Birmingham area workers, contractors, and businesses.

It's also important to understand the consequences of restricting these projects.

There are hundreds of data centers already operational with hundreds more planned nationwide.

So we're not going to stop them.

The question is whether the economic activity and job growth for these facilities happen in Birmingham or move elsewhere.

If the data centers can be built here, the development demands does not disappear.

Yeah.

Excuse me.

It shifts to other locations.

The result is lost opportunities for local work, reduced contracting activity, and reduced economic growth that would otherwise stay here.

Birmingham should consider policies that allow data centers and similar infrastructures to move forward locally.

So job growth and economic benefits can remain in our great city and surrounding areas.

Thank you all for your time.

And I respectfully ask the council to support data center development in Birmingham that strengthens local economy opportunities and the workforce stability of the Greater Birmingham area.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Oh, I'm so close.

Sorry.

Um, my name is Litrell Clifford Wood.

I'm here today to speak to you all as a resident of the Birmingham area.

I grew up just east of Birmingham in Irondale.

Um, and was attended Shays Valley High School and the Art Academy there.

Outside of my everyday work, I would call myself an artist.

And I, in speaking to this ordinance, noticed that there is not a component that necessarily addresses the threat that AI in general poses to our art and entertainment economy.

I've heard a lot of references to a modern economy as though our economy and our culture are not things that we create ourselves and that we build out with these ordinances.

And I will say one quote has been going through my head while listening to you all this morning from the great Thurgood Marshall who said, Do what you think is right and let the law catch up.

I appreciate you all doing the work to try and make sure that the law is catching up with something that is clearly ahead of us at this point.

Um, but Birmingham is a beautiful city, and it's partially beautiful because of artists.

And I I believe that AI does pose a significant threat to our art economy as we made investments in the Coca-Cola amphitheater and different components of our economy as we're trying to invest in transportation to build out a more robust economy.

Artists are the lifeblood of that in many ways, are in the lifeblood of fighting the current fascism that we are facing.

And so I do want to bring that to you all's attention.

I've I, as a history major, I can appreciate the the environmental concerns, particularly pertaining to environmental racism, and I'm very concerned about artists not being able to essentially elevate the commonplace and ensure that greater society has some sort of understanding of the emotional intelligence we need to move forward as a society.

I think Keith said something really important to me in that he said, you know, this is about this is about the people in a lot of in a lot of ways.

It's about you know seeing each other, and art teaches you to do that.

Um we can have dollars all day.

People do have to pay their bills, but what is it like to live without you know each other, without fresh air to breathe.

I sat looking at the back of our children's heads as you all are speaking, thinking about what type of Birmingham they will inherit.

And so I asked today that you consider maybe some creative solution to the lack of regulation that we're seeing that may seem outside of the bounds of your control.

Please don't patronize.

Please implement meaningful and creative change.

Thank you.

All right.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon.

My name is Bethany Fator.

I am a Birmingham resident.

I think that these new proposed ordinances are a great step in the right direction to protect Birmingham citizens and more appropriately regulate data centers based on their size and energy uses usage, particularly for the hyperscale data centers.

I urge the council to vote yes to enact these regulations with amendments to increase the 500-foot setback for hyperscale data centers to 1,000 foot, as well as requiring the no study, noise studies, lighting restrictions, and setback restrictions for medium-sized data centers.

I do think it's possible a couple of other amendments need to be made that have been much more eloquently described by some of the prior speakers, and I would appreciate since we're within the six-month moratorium window, perhaps a delay so you guys can further review those and adopt them.

I also urge this council to take note of its citizens, both at this meeting and especially the large turnout at previous meetings who have voiced concerns about facilities that these ordinances would not apply to.

I know it's quick.

We are encouraging you to take proactive measures to use every course legal recourse available to you to hold all data centers in Birmingham to these standards.

The citizens of Birmingham strongly believe that creative solutions to this problem do exist that have not been fully explored by city officials, and our ask is that you further explore those to hold all data centers to these new regulations that you are passing.

Like others, I do want to thank you for taking the time and enacting these regulations so quickly and taking this responsibility so seriously.

I would hate for that to be overshadowed by a huge hyperscale data center that does not have to follow the rules.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good morning.

I'm Terry Michael, a resident here in Birmingham, and I appreciate y'all having this hearing and listening to the community with their concerns about this ordinance.

I'm just gonna ditto everything that she just said, and I will not have to repeat it all.

Um I I do support this, however.

Um, I do think that there's um another area that really you guys could do a lot to not only protect the people of Birmingham, um, but also to set a standard that not many other cities have done, and that's going to be around the chemical and the fuel oversight.

Um recently I came across a 2025 blog post by Lions Chemical, a company that specializes in chemicals for hyperscale data centers.

In the article entitled The Unseen Chemistry of AI, Alliance states a modern hyperscale data center is in many ways a chemical processing plant that happens to do math beyond the primary cooling loop, every subsystem depends on specific chemical inputs.

A data center is far more than just servers and cooling loops, it is complex industrial facility with dozens of chemical applications spanning power generation, fire safety, cleaning maintenance, and environmental compliance.

My point in bringing that up is our history in Alabama and also here in Birmingham is a big industry coming in that has regulations, yet, how many times has the community been made sick?

How many times have waterways been polluted?

So, of course, we need to find them.

We need to hold them accountable if they break the rules.

But why not strengthen these policies, do everything that we can in our power to make sure that it doesn't get to that point?

And there are things that can be done.

I am very happy to say that I had a packet prepared for y'all with several things that in studying what this company and others have to say would be great to do.

Well, in talking with the folks from the zoning department and hearing what you all had to say, many of those things have been taken care of.

And I want to commend you all for that.

But everything everything has not.

So I really want to encourage you to remember Birmingham's history.

It's past time for our leaders to take a stand and act proactively, guarding against air and water pollution and contaminated soil by big industry.

Because that's what these AI factories are.

Big industry.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Morning.

My name is Emily Northrop, and I live in the Edgewood neighborhood.

I support the ordinance.

Allowing, particularly where you are restricting on-site burning of fossil fuels.

Allowing more on-site pollution may well get us more hyperscale data centers.

Sometimes I think they collect in hubs, but nasty air could also cost us other types of clean development.

Could cost us for sure inequities in who suffers and increased health cost.

So please consent to consider any potential cost of more pollution in the city and maintain the on-site restrictions of the burning of fossil fuels.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, I'm Peggy Gargus.

Is that reverb?

No, we can hear you.

Okay.

You're good.

Um 3931 South River Circle in Cahapa Heights.

And as I stated before, I can see District 2 from almost any place in my neighborhood.

So I feel like a neighbor of Yall's.

But I have appreciated many of the comments I've heard here today.

And it reminded me that if this is a draft, then we might have more time to submit more comments after more thorough research.

That would be much appreciated.

And I haven't seen the 70-page version, so maybe the deadline is there.

Maybe some other things that I have concerns about are there.

One is the zoning definitions for where allowed.

Mixed use is usually mean meaning residential with some commercial, some business, not data center.

So for medium uh data center to see mixed use or in any of these designations, that was pretty shocking to me.

I also want to reiterate the suggestion for uh a much smaller megawatt usage than 30 megawatts for a medium data center.

That seems very large to me.

Um larger boundaries or buffers for all of the almost all of the uh designations, beginning with data, I mean medium data center.

Um, and as for closed loop, I've only recently seen this, but um closed loop is much better, and I thank you all very, very much for insisting on that versus tanks doing.

But it doesn't sound like it's the end-all be all.

Maybe something better will come up later.

But what I have read that there are some key negatives to closed loop, and that is that the bleeding out that needs to be done from time to time can disperse the toxins into the air.

There can be sludge, it can it can actually be sent to the stormwater system, and having had a two-year battle with the county over the super sewer, I've learned a little bit about stormwater and know that we have to be very careful with it.

So my request is that the there be a requirement for these data centers, the closed loop, to have real-time automated monitoring, so that this the concentration of toxins and heavy metals and other chemicals be caught and relieved maybe uh more regularly with other than every every quarter or every year.

I would greatly appreciate that if that is at all possible.

So thank you very much.

And could you tell me the deadline for submitting comments?

So this is a public hearing and the council does have the option of voting on the ordinance today.

However, if we feel based on the comments that we've heard today that you know we need to keep working on this, there that option is still available to us.

So you know, it just depends on how the council chooses to proceed.

Now, what I will tell you is if the council decides to make changes to what's before us, we will have to go through this again.

So our practice is to advertise exactly what is being considered for four weeks that has to be advertised in widely available publications.

Um then, you know, the council sets the uh public hearing for the date after that four week period has occurred.

So you know, if we do choose to delay, it would be probably late May or June before uh this would be back before us uh with whatever uh changes, you know, have been advertised.

Yeah.

Understood.

And to your point about the um definitions for the various mixed use categories, those are in another section of the zoning code.

Um I'll just point out one specifically, the MXDC3.

Um, it's it's a mixed use category, but it's a mixed use commercial category, so it's um for like you know, a office park where you may have a utility substation and several other things going on.

Um so again, the definitions that spell out exactly what is allowed in each of those categories and what they are in another section of our zoning code.

It's in our zoning code is about 600 pages long, so have fun with that.

Okay, so residential doesn't sound like it would be included as I I would have to refer to staff because I don't have it memorized myself.

I can appreciate certainly.

Yeah.

Um but again, staff is available to answer those types of questions, they're immediately across the hall.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, you appreciate everybody's hard work.

Yes, ma'am.

All right, next speaker, please.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Madeline Green, Osmo Valley neighborhood.

The draft ordinance represents substantial work and addresses many issues that comparable jurisdictions have left unregulated.

Um first of all, I want to say the 30 megawatt threshold for hyperscale classification is too high, and creates a regulatory cliff.

Modern AI and high-density compute facilities routinely routinely operate between 20 and 30 megawatts within compact footprints.

Okay, under the current draft of 29.9 megawatt facility equivalent in noise, water, and green impact to a small hyper scale facility is classified as minimum and avoids the NOAA study, lighting standards, utility rates, this disclosure, and uh the setbacks.

Okay, on down uh medium data centers are not subject to noise or lighting standards.

Hyperscale requires pre-construction, post-construction, often noise uh studies, hyper scale uh sets quantitative light transpasses, trespasses limits.

Medium data centers, which may operate up to 30 mil uh megawatts, have neither requirement.

A 25 megawatt co-location facility could legally operate adjacent to residential, institutional health care uses with no acoustics compliance demonstration on no light trespasses camp.

I recommend the recommendations that apply the NOAA study requirement and lighting standards to medium uh data centers in addition to hyperscale.

The noise study north study requirement lacks substantial standards.

Hyper scale requires North Studies demonstrating compliance with this section, but the section contains no decibel limits, no frequency ban, requirements and no measurement protocols.

A North study cannot demonstrate compliance with standards that do not exist.

The recommendation is to add quantitative noise limits expressed uh at the property line, include limits on low frequency noise below 200 Hertz and on frequencies above 8,000.

So basically this would help with, especially if they're near veterinarian uh animal for the animal welfare health care facilities, and um I'm not gonna read all this.

There's so many more that in that in that uh ordinance, the draft ordinance needs to be looked at a little bit more.

So I'm asking is that you uh counselors that you put this off until that time that you were talking about, uh Dr.

Council O'Quinn, because just like I said, in the one where you all had the public hearing just to kind of discuss whether you should have a moratorium.

And at that meeting, I said we need to get it right.

You know, you all need to get it right.

And so even though this is an excellent start, very excellent start, I think that it would be good if you all would consider just putting it off.

It took this long to get to even do this, you know, for the moratorium.

So it would be nice if you would and be.

You know, and so and I'm sure others here, and then just regulating it a little bit.

You can finally say we've done it, we think we did a good job, and we covered everything that we could possibly cover because the neighborhoods depend on that.

So I'm asking that you delay it.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

All right.

Not seeing anyone else uh wishing to speak, uh, we'll conclude the public hearing.

And Madam President, I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you, Dr.

O'Quinn.

We do want to thank staff.

We also want to thank you for conducting the public hearing.

Most importantly, we want to thank the public for the input that you've provided us today.

And um just short thoughts on this.

Counselors, I'm looking for any direction that we'd like to take.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

You know, I think that um today, first of all, we've had a lot of public hearings before, and I really appreciate the balance of today's public hearing and people coming to speak, particularly about uh this ordinance and um real less very realistic impacts that it could have in for our city and specifically maybe certain people's neighborhoods, uh, if they spoke about a neighborhood, and I think that that's important.

You know, a lot of public hearings we hear about you know, things that that God can't change.

And and today was very on topic and enlightening, and I think that there was a real balance of um of we know that this technology and this um, you know, we can call it an industrial or technological revolution is coming.

We know we don't want to be left behind, um, but we also know that there needs to be guardrails, and um, you know, I think it's from a historical perspective.

I think this council and administration is doing something different than has ever been done in Birmingham.

I think that um Birmingham has always been open for business, but sometimes it's been open for business to the detriment of those that actually reside here, not just those that open a business here.

And so I think that today kind of is is really from a bird's eye view a little bit of a turning point compared to maybe the way that this city and and this metro area have operated globally in the past.

I do think that there are some things that we could tighten up on in this ordinance, and I do think that there is uh uh one thing that really was not mentioned that I would like to be part of the public record.

And please understand when I say this, I say it in a balanced way.

But the amount of tax revenue, it would not come to the city, but it would come to Birmingham City Schools in these data centers is extremely significant.

When we look at this tax revenue, we know that if we are able to take a brown field or a site that has been a uh pretty intense industrial site that has would have far worse um environmental impacts on that site and turn it into something that you know has been dormant since the industrial steel revolution, and we're able to turn that into something that generates um 30, 40, 50, 60 million dollars for Birmingham City schools.

That creates an absolute huge scalable way that they can transform their budget.

When you look at their overall budget and what a singular data center could bring, the opportunity that it could bring those uh children is immense.

It compares well more than funding that's available to a lot of the children in over the mountain school districts, and we deserve the same thing that any over the mountain school district deserves right here in this city.

But like I said, it has to be balanced.

We cannot have guard, we cannot have a free-for-all, and we cannot have industry come in that is not um uh let's call it a resident of Birmingham that negatively impacts us.

I think that there's a way that we can have from an economic development standpoint, um the exact outline that has been outlined in this ordinance, which I think puts really, really good guardrails on um data centers.

Um everyone's not going to agree on the same number of megawatts that should be defined as a hyperscale or medium scale.

Everyone's not going to agree on anything we do, whether we have you know chicken or fish for lunch.

But this is a very good job of public engagement and the staff working very diligently.

Uh uh, Mr.

Mayor, your staff has done an exemplary job of this.

I do think that you know there's one thing that I think that we need to look at, and that is the by exception language.

That by except exception language that applies to heavy industrial sites needs to be a non-political way.

I think that there's ways that we can come to an agreement to do it where it's where it's non-political, where we can have some other solutions, uh perhaps notification of um of this coming.

Um I don't know, I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of defer to you, Dr.

O'Quinn, on some of this.

But I think that this that if we were able to look at that, uh contemplate that, delay it for a week or so and discuss that that that would be that would be striking the balance of saying we're open to business, but there are extensive guardrails, and we expect for those guardrails to be followed because we are a different Birmingham than that of 50 years ago.

Yes, I wasn't sure if anyone else had any other comments.

Madam President, I actually do.

Um may get my hands slapped for saying this.

I've heard a lot of comments saying that we purposely excluded a certain project out of the moratorium.

If a project is already in the process of getting a permit, you cannot stop it.

Nobody purposely excluded that project out of the moratorium.

I want you to hear this.

I have no reason to lie to tell you the truth to save us, we haven't.

So I don't want anybody to think that you know, this project sorry, we were like, oh, we're gonna leave it out and then have this ordinance.

No.

But in response, I think Mayor Wolfman has talked about this.

In response to those applications, we say, okay, let's take a moment, let's re-evaluate it, let's get a moratorium so we can do research and have ordinance in place.

That particular site was already a data center.

There are actually a few off of Lakeshore.

They may not look like the ones Investment in Memphis, but there are data centers.

I mean, where do you think your outlook information goes to a data center?

We use Chat GPC.

Where does that go?

A data center.

I'm not excluding you guys' concerns because I understand if I was a resident and this happened, I'd probably be pissed too, honestly.

But I don't want you to think, and I'm gonna speak up for my colleague that she doesn't care about what's going on.

I mean, she's calling us 8 30 in the morning, like, hey, what do you think?

I really want to make sure my residents are good.

So it's not purposely, we hear you guys.

We I really appreciate what Council Williams said.

We really appreciate your comments.

Please send it to us if it's about an ordinance.

But this is a council administration that cares about you all.

Because if we didn't care about you all, then we could have done another moratorium, extended out for six more months, or you know, drag our fee on this ordinance.

But every single counselor, we have research.

We have met with planning and zoning, so we are doing our due diligence to make sure that we are balancing business and the health and safety of our residents.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Well, I want to thank each of you for your comments and just the conversation that we've had today.

I thank you, Counselor Smithman.

Um, when we address what the council did prior to the moratorium and what our knowledge was prior to the moratorium, we followed the processes that we had in place, and this is why we acted quickly to put a moratorium in place.

So the thought that prevails out there is if nothing was done, that we did not care, that I did not care.

For the people that I represent and for the neighborhood that I live in, I ask you to please review the facts, continue to do the research, and allow us as your council representatives to legislate this in a way that would protect each of us, we will maintain our legacy for our neighborhoods, and we will also do what's best for each of you and for me.

I live in district seven.

I would not want to bring anything into District 7 that is gonna cause any harm or disrupt any of us.

I've heard your views.

I'm a retiree.

I know what it means to want to live in peace.

I know what it means to want to settle in a neighborhood where I can live the rest of my life.

I also know what it means to be transparent and as well as to do things with integrity.

So I thank you all for bringing these issues to us today, and I thank my colleagues for um what we want to do as far as being sure that we get this straight.

So, counselors, I know we've heard a lot of um information today.

There have been a lot.

I've got two pages of notes where I appreciate the information that you all have brought to us and the things that you would like to see us consider.

We want to get this document straight so that it would be effective, we'll be able to know where we will go in the future and what we can do to monitor this process.

So, counselors.

Madam President.

Mayor Woodfin.

I didn't want to interrupt the council still.

I'm gonna have some dialogue about this, but if you were moving to a potential vote, I I had took some notes too.

Please go ahead.

Share on the record.

Um, one, I want to um I want to thank the the council for um being very intentional in this process, although on paper we have a um moratorium with significant amount more time on it.

I think this council is struck the balance with allowing professional staff to um move with speed and efficiency to at minimum get to this point of a draft.

I believe the draft had some very strong language in it with recommendations from a lot of folks.

Um but I also want to thank two other groups.

I want to thank the professional staff for their hard work of getting us to this point, and I want to thank the general public and our residents in our city for the comments they've shared today as well as um all the previous meetings as well.

Just some notes here and what I've heard today, and it's just some notes over the few weeks.

Um this ordinance has a lot of pages, a lot of words, a lot of a lot of documents, but and in short the proposed data center ordinance schedule that we're talking about.

Um for certain areas within our city, particularly the um I'm gonna read my notes, make sure I get this right.

The heavy industrial areas, they are 18 strict environmental operational conditions that have to be met.

18.

Um that is a that is a I guess that's a lot of things to have to meet in order just to clear the hurdle to even begin to get to the process of uh permitting.

Um I think there were some recent recommendations added from some of the public hearings, one of them being planning and zoning.

Um mission meeting that added an additional step.

Um so before we talk about an additional step, part of those 18 existing um requirements cover the spread for noise, air emissions, water use, and other environmental impacts.

Um I've talked into professional staff and the team at nauseum as well as the leadership team who believe those conditions are sufficient and allow safe development without harming nearby neighborhoods and communities.

I think an additional step that talks about this amendment requiring hyper scale centers to um this special exception to go back before a a board unintentionally politicizes something that you're already meeting the requirements, um, I think it can be seen as anti-growth.

I think it can actually be in some cases anti-growth depending on the circumstance.

Um that inclusion wasn't necessarily something from professional staff, and then talking with them and talking with the team, it's something that we would recommend that this body, your body not necessarily vote today, but take a hard look at that can clue up to excluding that, but adding something in exchange for uh that's efficient around notice and and community um notification.

Um we believe that's a balance of making sure we get this right, making sure those 18 strict environmental operational conditions are met, yet an ordinance on its face doesn't slam the door to um this growth sector balance as what we stated before.

So um I'm not sure what's before you, what you're about to debate as it relates to voting today or not, but in talking to the staff and talking with legal and talking with the leadership team, we would recommend some additional time to actually make sure we can get this right and then be back in the position to advertise to the general public um what we're adding, um, what we're subtracting, etc.

Thank you, Mayor Wiffin.

Council Williams.

I don't know if everybody has comments, but um you know with that.

I I think it would be appropriate to do a one-week delay of this item, which would allow for a first reading and advertising um of those changes, and then after the I think it's 22 days, whatever the amount of advertising is, then we would vote, and it would probably be the first during the second reading, which would be the first week in June or whatever, however, that math works out.

Um so if that's amenable to you, Madam, all of us, I I move for a one-week delay of this item.

Is there a second or any discussion before you make that?

Is there any other discussion?

Yes, um, so um, yeah, let me clarify the um with a a friendly amendment, I guess.

Um so um in order to you know keep this an efficient process as efficient as possible under the circumstances, I would suggest that um we do the one-week delay um for a lot of reasons that you know residents gave um for giving further consideration.

Um also to ask staff to place an item on the agenda next Tuesday, setting a public hearing for you know that would allow for the appropriate amount of advertising.

Um so I think that would probably fall first week of June.

Um in any case, um come next week, you know, go ahead and get uh submit the resolution for setting the public hearing for the council agenda next Tuesday.

Um that item uh will be have have to be accompanied by with uh whatever revised language that we would like to see in the ordinance.

Um, and then you know, if it isn't right next Tuesday, then we can delay it further.

So uh that's that's my friendly amendment.

Very friendly, I'm good with that.

All right, so we have a friendly amendment that uh puts in for a delay.

We would have staff to come back to us also with the commitment to uh publicizing any additional hearings that we would have to have, and then if we can't make that commitment, we would come back and re convene to talk about it again.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

We're ready for the vote.

Councilmember Woods, President Alice.

Aye.

All right, thank you.

We have set that amendment or set that motion in order.

We'll have a one-week delay.

Staff will bring back and consider the information that was shared during the public hearing, and then we'll also have publication of um additional time that we could get comments.

Thank you.

That item passes.

Thank you all very much.

I do appreciate everyone again.

We will continue with the rest of our agenda at this time.

We do have opportunity for comments from each district.

We are running into the time for the public safety meeting.

So if you want to abbreviate any of your comments, I think the chair and the committee would be happy to do so.

Councilor Smith.

Okay, thank you.

Um, just want to first say thank you to FI Oda by IOTA Omega, chapter of Alpha Capital Sorority, um, and Cool Green Trees for a successful tree planting at Princeton Elementary last week.

Um, also um, just real quickly, Park and Rick is conducting a citywide community survey.

Um, you can visit Bham Parks 2035.com to complete that survey.

As a reminder to my colleagues, we are still having the community meetings.

So the lack the one last night at the Oxmore Valley Community Center was very was very good.

There will be one this evening, 6 p.m.

at Memorial Park.

Um, and you can go to Beehan Parks 2035.com to see the full list.

Um, neighborhood meetings, Bush Hills will be meet via conference call.

College Hills will meet on Monday at Legion Field, Central Pract would also meet via conference call, and you can call our office 205-254-2304 for details.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Gunn.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh, here are my announcements.

Uh huge thanks to everyone who came out to the community cleanup this past weekend uh in the Norwood community.

I want to give a special shout out to the Keith Birmingham Beautiful team, Coca-Cola United, and Woodlawn United for supporting these cleanup days.

Uh in Norwood this weekend, we picked up over 670 pounds of trash uh in under two hours.

So uh shout out to everyone uh uh who came out and supported that and to residents in District 4.

If you see trash on the ground, pick it up.

Uh parks and recreation again.

We'll host another community meeting uh next Monday starting at 6 p.m.

This one will be at the Willow Wood Recreation Center, and it's in reference to our park study.

So I want to echo the sentiments of my colleague, Counselor Smith.

Um, I also want to wish a very happy birthday to Miss Minnie Knox Matthews from the Collegeville neighborhood.

She is turning 100 years old.

Uh so that's a blessing, and I definitely want to wish her a happy birthday.

Uh upcoming neighborhood association meetings on Monday, May the 14th.

Uh, we have the Maple Grove Neighborhood Association meeting at 6 30 via teleconference.

On that same Monday, we have Zion City at 6 30 via teleconference.

On that same Monday again, we have the Brownsville Heights uh neighborhood association at 6 30 at the Browns of Brownsville Heights Community Center.

Uh on that same Monday, we have Collegeville at 6 30 at the Greater New Antioch Baptist Church.

Uh lastly, uh any announcements that we have for the upcoming community development meeting.

Uh, we need those sent in.

Uh, I think it's by close of business uh today.

Uh and that meeting will take place Monday, May the 4th at 3 30 p.m.

Uh in the city council chambers.

And last thing I have on the owl shirt uh representing my neighbors over in the South Woodlawn neighborhood.

They have this is their block watch, so they are being nosy intentionally to make sure that their community stays safe.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Dr.

Quinn.

All right.

Abbreviate my comments.

205 254 2000.

Ask for the district five council office.

Anything that you want to know that's going on in District 5, you can talk to us directly.

Um, and if you want to, you can also sign up for our email newsletter.

Got tons of information, including anything that I would have included in my announcements today.

I however I will uh mention one thing because it's timely.

If you live in count uh state representative district 54's district, um representative Neil Rafferty is having a town hall tomorrow at Protective Stadium that starts at uh 6 p.m.

So just wanted to mention that.

All right, thank you so much.

Councilor Williams.

Thank you.

Economic Development Tourism Committee meeting will be May the 5th at 11 30.

If y'all could get their submissions to India.bailey at Birmingham AL.gov and East Lake Farmers Market will be back May the 2nd at East Lake United Methodist Church, and that starts at 8 o'clock in the morning, and we will be supporting that again.

Uh our office so that you can use your SNAP and EBG cards for fresh produce at that farmers market.

Thank you.

That is all.

Thank you very much.

Council Smith.

Yes, ma'am, just one thing.

Uh, as mentioned by Council Smith, Park and Rick will host its community meeting today at Memorial Park at 6 p.m.

Uh also you can find the link on the City of Birmingham's website where you can have a survey of the things you would like to see at your park or at different parks around the city.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

My apologies to my staff.

I have no idea where the sheet of paper is that had my D7 comments on it.

So I'm just gonna say thank you all for a great meeting.

Thank you, D7, for all that you do.

I'll echo uh Dr.

O'Quinn.

If you have anything you need to questions or any information you need to uh send to the district office, please dial 2052.

Thank you very much.

At this time to have a speaker's can I just question on the item, uh Madam President.

And Dr.

O'Quinn, since you made the motion, we'd since the item was on the agenda, we'll pass with the clerk's office of bringing the item back to say it would be for one week.

So we're just dealing with the item without the hearing aspect, is am I correct?

I'll bring it back to the yeah.

So I think um we're because that's what's on the agenda.

Yes, so let me just clarify.

So we're asking for a one-week delay.

Right.

Um, so the item would be back on the agenda.

Absent to hearing ad.

Absent a public hearing because we've held the public hearing.

Um I've asked staff to also submit an agenda item, a separate agenda item that would set another public hearing.

Um you know, that would include any changes that are made.

Sounds good.

Yeah.

And that clarity is taken.

We don't need to do any action as well.

Julie, you want to add something?

I apologize.

I had run to get prepared for public safety, and so I'm not sure exactly what the question is.

So you want to clarify, yeah.

So um what we did today was we delayed any vote on the proposed data center ordinance.

Um so it automatically comes back to us next week.

Yeah, one week delay.

Um, I've also asked staff to submit a agenda item that assuming that whatever changes, you know, are made, you know, are recommended over the next week, uh, those would be presented to us at the next council meeting.

And if those changes appear to address all of the concerns that were expressed today, we would go ahead and set a public hearing for the appropriate date in the future.

I think uh Julie Bernard um serve as assistant city attorney in the office of city attorney.

I think based on the volume of comments I think that the council received, I think we could turn around, you know, like a small amendment, you know, like one topic, you know, one small piece because to get it on the agenda for next week, it would have to be submitted by five o'clock tomorrow.

So that's going to be very difficult giving the volume of the comments, and I think council kind of gathered from some of the comments.

She heard a lot of balanced comments on both sides that you may want to examine.

I don't think that it's possible for the council, I mean, for the staff to address all the comments, you know, and turn it around and get it back to you next week.

Um, some of it may be something that you may want to consider, you know, a committee um discussion or something, or we may want to bring it back.

It depends on what, you know, because usually if we amend an ordinance, you know, from the dais and want to make a change.

I would prefer that we have the language from the council that we want to put in it when we amend it in the dais when we're gonna turn it around that quickly.

So I think we can handle this real quickly.

So motion to reconsider agenda item one, Saka.

All in favor, let it be known by saying aye.

All right, all opposed.

All right.

Uh so I want to make a motion to the instead of delaying the item one week.

I want to change that to a two-week delay.

Second, all in favor, let it be known by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Okay, so we have set a two-week delay for item number one.

Thank you.

Thank you, counselors.

Thank you, Attorney Bernard.

Thank you.

At this time, we have left open our speakers' list.

Do we have any speakers that are still here to speak?

Robert Banks.

Um, if Robert Banks is not here, Artist Murphy.

Uh, good morning.

Um, to this great city of Birmingham.

I just came to share with you today some spiritual guidance to leadership.

This data center is so not unimportant for real.

It's not the most thing that we should be thinking about.

The truth of the matter is the legislation has been passed 60 years ago.

The most important thing is this.

The Alabama Constitution, I want you to hear me now.

Let me just put it on your heart and mind.

I know a lot of people, and let me say this.

I come in peace and not in fear.

I come in love and not eight.

I'm willing to love you in a way that you probably can't love me back because I'm willing to sacrifice all for what I believe in.

And this God that I follow.

The Alabama Constitution has 369,000 380 words in it.

The United States Constitution has only 44.

Okay.

Less than one percent of one percent of Alabamians have ever picked it up.

Less than one percent of all politicians have ever read it.

Okay.

What we are experiencing here is this.

And please don't hold me and think negative.

There's a term called white supremacy.

It has nothing to do with white people or black people.

It has something to do with the spirit behind the thought.

The Constitution is something as simple as point, it's a document that is used on how people feel about the people that they govern.

Okay.

What you're seeing here in this realm of things is your power has been stripped from you.

And you can never operate in the power that God gave you gift to operate in.

Let me help somebody now.

This is what is happening.

You cannot, I know you want my time to run out, but I understand.

You cannot operate in leading people in wage that you do not live.

And you definitely can't guide people in what you do not practice.

So, what this government, the bigger part of it has done for us, it has stripped us of our ability to operate in the power of your seat, and the power in which God has given us to operate to show who He is.

If you can just bear with me for one minute, I'll be finished.

William Cooper Green.

How would they able to do things at their time?

There's only twice in history that a government has been important in this city.

It was that time and now.

And what you have to understand is this.

The reason that you are so behind the times is because you have no practice in understanding and operating in your power.

Because it is script from you from state level, federal level.

Let's deal with it right quick.

Every seat depends on another seat.

Council.

It goes all the way up to Washington, right?

Then who's in control after the presidency?

The people that are in authority, who has the money that's trying to say to you is this is what white supremacy is.

This has nothing to do about money.

It has nothing to do about power.

It's more intimate than that.

It's to make a people feel good about themselves when they realize they are not supreme at all.

And what they have shown for just couple it up.

We are really beyond the time if you can give you 10 seconds.

10 seconds.

You're going to start getting those phone calls immediately because I'm only on assignment, so I have some protesting to do.

I have to come before you to protest against the powers to be.

Thank you.

At this time, we would like to thank our officers on duty, Officer Pinker, Terry, and Shelby, and our host, fire inspectors, Snow Griggs, Lassiter, McClooney, Gilchrist, and Shaw.

Thank you all, everyone, for your service today.

At this time, we'll entertain a motion for adjourning second.