Proposed data center near Nashville Zoo sparks heavy pushback

Brad Paisley, a Grammy Award-winning American country music singer and songwriter, urged his followers to sign a petition to stop the construction of a 69,000-square-foot data center that would be 50 yards from the Nashville Zoo , which he called “an absolute nightmare scenario” in an Instagram Reel .

“First of all, they don’t have the power to build this. They don’t have the water. It doesn’t belong there. It would be an enormous monstrosity, an absolute eyesore, and detract in every way from not only that zoo, but that area,” Paisley said in his video, which he posted collaboratively with the zoo Saturday. The Nashville Zoo, which had 1.4 million visitors last year, has over 3,700 animals and represents over 350 species. It is “one of the top zoos in the world,” Paisley said in his post .

The video comes days after the zoo created a petition and promoted it on social media, which brought national attention to the dispute and had amassed 331,824 signatures and over 126,599 shares Monday afternoon. The zoo’s president and CEO, Rick Schwartz, said in an interview Friday he was particularly concerned about its impact on rare and vulnerable species at the facility, such as the clouded leopard, whose population the zoo is working to conserve.

Paisley, a Nashville resident, is so far the most widely recognized figure to push back against the project.

“No one has shared studies or environmental impact assessments. Just their word. That’s why the Nashville Zoo is asking the community to join in vehemently opposing the proposed data center being built adjacent to the Zoo,” the petition says.

The proposed data center is from DC BLOX, an Atlanta-based company that specializes in building and operating data centers as a service to “hyperscalers, enterprises, communications providers, and technology companies,” according to its website . With 23 data centers in operation and development , DC BLOX aims to expand the number of data centers across the country. “More data centers are required outside the major cities nearer to edge markets to house the necessary technology to run services closer to data producers and consumers,” its website says .

A spokesperson for DC BLOX told NBC News on Friday that he did not immediately know what the data center would be used for or whether AI companies would be among its customers. However, the spokesperson said it would “not be an AI factory placing a burden on local resources and is proposed on a site that had previously operated a data center.”

The zoo says the noise could disturb some of its animals and nearby residents. Out of that concern, it is fighting the data center.

“As we move forward, we have taken the next step in our fight against the proposed data center,” the zoo wrote in a comment to NBC News. “Our Land Use Attorney and former Metro Codes Director Bill Herbert has filed a zoning appeal with the city. The goal of this appeal is to overturn the permits that DC BLOX has filed and that have been approved.”

While the zoo waits for the zoning appeal to be addressed, it is urging community members to attend a session Thursday at which the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County will debate legislation that would prohibit data centers larger than 500,000 square feet and require them to be built at least half a mile away from homes, schools and zoos.

Nashville residents have voiced their concern to Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who “is working closely with our Department of Law and Metro departments to ensure large-scale data centers don’t harm our local communities,” Julie Oaks Smith, chief communications officer for the mayor’s office, wrote to NBC News in a comment. “We are looking at what options are available under the law for the mayor and the Metro government to implement safeguards to protect our air, water, and rate payers, and keep our neighborhoods and our residents from being negatively impacted by these facilities.”

The petition comes amid a nationwide pushback against the development of data centers near communities and neighborhoods, because of environmental, noise and health concerns, alongside increasing frustration with tech and AI in general.

Paisley often weaves social commentary and complex issues into his music, and outside of his music career, he remains engaged on cultural and philanthropic issues. He and his wife helped start a nonprofit organization in 2020 called The Store , which is a free, referral-based grocery store in Nashville that fights food insecurity. Paisley also joined U-24, a platform to raise money and support Ukraine that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy founded in January 2023.

“Nashville Zoo is overwhelmed with gratitude for the support from the community as we continue our fight against the proposed data center. We would like to take this time to thank Brad Paisley, a dear friend of the Zoo for making a public statement on our behalf,” the zoo wrote to NBC News.