Memphis Mayor Paul Young has ordered a 90-day expert review of how the city regulates large and hyperscale data centers, the City of Memphis announced on Oct. 9, 2026. The executive order took effect on the mayor's signature. While the review runs, the city's Engineering Department must add an extended review period of at least five business days to its permitting process. The order arrived as the City Council was weighing its own response: on Oct. 6 the council voted 7-5 to postpone a proposed 12-month data center moratorium, and on the same day 5C Data Centers filed a $575 million permit application to expand its Memphis campus.
"My responsibility is to protect Memphians and make sure our city benefits from the investments coming here," Young said in the city's announcement. He added: "This work is about taking deliberate action."
What the Executive Order Covers
The mayor appoints the study group's subject-matter experts, and the city's chief operating officer chairs it. The order lists six subjects for review:
- Land use and neighborhood protections: updates to the city's Unified Development Code (UDC), including required distances between data centers and homes and schools.
- Infrastructure: engineering standards for stormwater, sanitary sewer connections, traffic controls and landscaping.
- Air quality: recommendations to the Shelby County Health Department and other agencies on permitting, monitoring and enforcement.
- Water and aquifer protection: water-use standards and alternatives, such as treated wastewater for industrial cooling, for consideration by Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW).
- Energy and utility costs: grid capacity, peak demand, demand response and rate structures that keep large users from shifting costs to other customers.
- Noise: acceptable noise levels and mitigation measures.
The order also requires at least three community education sessions, a written public comment period and an open presentation of the group's findings. The group may send interim recommendations at any time if urgent issues arise. Its final written report goes to the mayor, with recommendations addressed to the City Council, the Shelby County Health Department, MLGW and other regulators.
The order governs the city's own administrative process. "The executive order does not suspend, delay, restrict, or interfere with Council action," the announcement says. The extra Engineering Department review time is meant to allow consideration of whether traffic studies, signals, signage or roadway improvements are needed.
The Council's Track: Moratorium and Zoning Amendments
The council has been working on its own measures. Data Center Frontier reported that the council voted 7-5 on Oct. 6 to postpone consideration of a proposed 12-month moratorium on new data center development, sponsored by Councilman JB Smiley Jr. with other members, and rescheduled the final vote for Oct. 20. Two days later, on Oct. 8, council members advanced on first reading two ordinances that would amend the UDC with zoning, land-use and siting standards for data centers and similar facilities.
The two tracks overlap. The mayor's study covers the same development code the council ordinances would amend, and its findings will reach the council only as recommendations. The council has not adopted the moratorium.
5C's Phase-Four Application
5C Data Centers filed a commercial alteration permit application for the fourth phase of its MEM01 facility on Oct. 6, valued at $575 million, according to Data Center Frontier. The site is 4300 Getwell Road, the former headquarters and distribution complex of the discount retailer Fred's. The outlet describes a 1.1-million-square-foot building on a roughly 58-acre property, with phase four covering about 504,000 square feet of that building. The application has been filed, not approved.
The power figures depend on who gives them. On its portfolio page, 5C lists MEM01's power source as "GRID BTM" with a capacity schedule of 20 MW in 2026, 64 MW in 2027 and 35 MW in 2029 or later, and labels current capacity "FULLY COMMITTED" and the expansion "SELECTIVE CAPACITY AVAILABLE." Separately, Group Chief Revenue Officer Brad Nimri told The Daily Memphian on Oct. 11 that 5C plans to raise available power at MEM01 from about 20 MW to 84 MW over six months using fuel cells rather than a matching increase in utility power, as Data Center Frontier reported.
On the utility side, MLGW President and CEO Doug McGowen told the council on Sept. 1 that 5C had approval for about 9 MW of additional service at Getwell Road during 2026, and listed a further 5C expansion of about 50 MW among prospective large-load projects still under evaluation, according to the outlet. A request under evaluation is not an approved or energized connection.
Two other cost factors appear in Data Center Frontier's account. The Tennessee Valley Authority's Large Data Service rate structure, effective Oct. 1, 2026, includes a capacity commitment charge of $1.521 million per MW for the initial fiscal 2027 allocation, generally applying to new contracted loads above the first 5 MW; the tariff exempts certain in-flight expansion requests of 100 MW or less during initial implementation. And a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) application that 5C submitted to the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County (EDGE) in November 2025 was never approved.
Context
5C bought the Getwell Road complex in June 2026 for $25 million, according to Shelby County property records cited by Data Center Frontier. In August 2026 the company announced it had closed $605 million in new debt led by Brookfield Asset Management, funding that the outlet says also supports projects in Ohio and Phoenix. Data Center Frontier places the expansion in the wider AI-infrastructure buildout in Memphis that began with xAI's Colossus, whose natural gas turbine generation has drawn legal challenges and scrutiny over emissions and permitting.
What Happens Next
- Oct. 20, 2026: The City Council's final vote on the proposed 12-month moratorium is scheduled for today.
- UDC ordinances: The two zoning and siting ordinances advanced on first reading remain subject to further readings and revisions before they can take effect.
- Community sessions and comment period: At least three community education sessions and a written comment period are required during the study; dates have not been announced.
- Final report: The study group's written report is due to the mayor within 90 days of the order taking effect.
- 5C permit: The phase-four application is in city permitting, now subject to the Engineering Department's extended review. MLGW's evaluation of the roughly 50 MW expansion remains open.
