SDCL Tennessee Propco LLC v. Bradley County (Data Center Zoning Ordinance Challenge)
SDCL Tennessee Propco LLC sued Bradley County, Tennessee in Chancery Court on September 17, 2026, seeking to invalidate the county commission's April 2026 vote restricting data centers to a single industrial zoning district with a 3,000-foot setback from homes, schools and churches. SDCL, which paid $19,904,950 for roughly 306 acres in the county's Hiwassee River Industrial Park to build a large-scale data center, argues the county did not follow Tennessee's required procedure -- including planning-commission review and public notice -- before adopting the restrictions.
Why it matters
As data-center developers face a growing wave of local zoning pushback nationwide, this case tests whether counties can tighten siting rules for large-scale computing facilities without first following state-mandated notice and planning-commission procedures. A ruling invalidating Bradley County's ordinance on procedural grounds would be a significant precedent for developers challenging similarly adopted data-center restrictions elsewhere, while a loss would validate an increasingly common local-government response to data-center siting fights: stricter, industrial-only zoning with large residential setbacks.
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