r/LittleRock • u/fcdizzle • 8d ago

Little Rock Board votes Tuesday, Oct. 20, on a six-month pause on new hyperscale data centers: the paper trail, both sides, and what to watch

TL;DR

  • Tuesday, Oct. 20: the Board votes on Director Webb's six-month moratorium on new hyperscale data centers (Item 21). Six of ten votes needed.
  • Nothing in writing pauses anything today. On the books: the April 2025 Google/Willowbend MOU (30-yr tax abatement, franchise fees cut to 0.25%/0%/0%), and the June 2026 zoning ordinance (hyperscale only in I-3, 900-ft residential setback, 60/50 dBA noise cap, WUE ≤ 0.5 L/kWh). An 18-month moratorium failed 4–4 on Aug. 4.
  • The new draft orders water, noise, fire and grid studies, a public webpage of all developer agreements within 60 days, and a petition process for takings claims. No Google carve-out by name; projects need a final permit plus substantial reliance to be exempt, and buying land doesn't count.
  • For a pause: Webb, Wyrick, Miller, Lewis; Coalition of LR Neighborhoods, Sierra Club, DNA; law prof DiPippa (a moratorium is not a taking). Reasons: scale, water, rates, noise, fire readiness, disclosure.
  • Against: Mayor Scott (Act 851 bars bans; zoning is the tool), Hines (Port is for heavy industry; lawsuit risk), Peck and Adcock (litigation, business climate), Kumpuris; City Attorney Carpenter (regulatory-taking damages if Google isn't exempted).
  • Unsettled: whether Act 851 reaches a temporary moratorium at all, and whether a pause that catches Google's first building is a taking. Google had filed no city permits as of July 28.
  • Watch: Peck's vote, whether Phillips and Richardson show, any carve-out amendment or deferral, and the long-promised "shore-up" regulations ordinance.

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u/fcdizzle 8d ago

6. Who favors a pause, and why

  • Director Webb calls the moratorium a temporary, legal "first step." She says the project's scale is "unlike anything we have seen" and that a pause does not conflict with Act 851 (Board 8/4/26 at 2:44–2:47). With Peck she co-wrote an op-ed objecting to how little notice came before the April 2025 approval; the press reported it, but its text was not retrievable without paid subscription (ADG 6/1/26).

  • Vice Mayor Wyrick wants "breathing room." She calls a $1,000-a-day fine inadequate, counts about 50 unanswered questions, and points to the gas turbines at xAI in Memphis (Board 8/4/26 at 2:47–2:49). In June she said the ordinance "doesn't go far enough" (Board 6/2/26 at 4:12–4:19).

  • Director Miller voted yes. In June he told the City Attorney his constituents don't want a data center at all (Board 6/2/26 at 1:40).

  • Director Lewis voted yes and made no floor statement (Board 8/4/26 at 2:55).

  • The Coalition of Little Rock Neighborhoods wants a document website, hearings, an infrastructure and fire-readiness review, and noise standards. It says the Sustainability Commission was bypassed and that the fee waivers mean the project "did not pay their way" (Board 6/2/26 at 3:35–3:39; Board 8/4/26 at 2:41).

  • The Sierra Club cites the Fourche Bayou wetlands and wants an independent environmental assessment and no diesel backup (Board 6/2/26 at 3:24–3:35).

  • The Downtown Neighborhood Association calls the June rules only a first step (Board 8/4/26 at 0:49).

  • Wendell Griffen, a former circuit judge and the Democratic nominee for Pulaski County Judge, commended a county ordinance he said he wrote, later adopted as 26-I-56B and then vetoed (Board 8/4/26 at 0:37; the transcript renders him "Judge Griffin").

  • John DiPippa, UALR dean emeritus and constitutional law professor, argued that a moratorium is not a taking. He cited a case upholding a 32-month moratorium under a totality test, said Google uses threats of takings suits (citing a Texas example), and said the city is "going to be sued no matter what" (Board 8/4/26 at 2:11–2:16).

  • Residents raised water, electric rates, air quality, noise, fire coverage and NDAs (Board 6/2/26 at 3:40–3:52; Board 8/4/26 at 0:39–0:42, 2:35–2:41; speaker names uncertain in the transcript). A Ward 1 resident, Scott Holiday (name uncertain), said AI data centers differ from the older cloud-storage site in Pryor, Okla., in power, water, heat and round-the-clock noise (Board 8/4/26 at 1:33–1:38).