Tuscaloosa, AL Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

Tuscaloosa's Zoning Ordinance took effect on January 1, 2025 (Sec. 25-7), and it treats a data center as a defined commercial use. Sec. 25-31 defines it as a facility containing one or more large-scale computer systems used for data storage and processing for off-site users, and it lists the equipment that comes with the use: back-up batteries and power generators, cooling units, fire suppression systems, and enhanced security features.

Sec. 25-101(b)(2) files data centers in the business service category, next to broadcasting studios, catering establishments, conference or training centers, contractor offices, general business offices, and research and development establishments. In Table V-3, the Data center row carries a P, permitted by right, in exactly five district columns: General Commercial (GC), Highway Commercial (HC), Industrial Light (IL), Industrial General (IG) and Industrial Heavy (IH). The row has no C and no S, so a data center in those districts needs neither a conditional use permit nor a special exception use permit for the use itself.

The table legend closes every other door. A blank cell is a prohibited use, and the only other mark, A for allowed in a PD district, does not appear in the Data center row. That makes the use prohibited in the Open Space and residential districts, the institutional districts (I-P and I-SP), the downtown districts (D, DP and DHE), Riverfront (R), Lake Commercial (LC), University Commercial (UC), Neighborhood Commercial (NC), and both planned development districts (GPD and RPD).

Parking follows from the district. Table VI-4 in Sec. 25-123 sets a minimum of 2 spaces per 1,000 square feet of office area for a data center, below the 2.5 per 1,000 sf required for conference or training centers and contractor offices and the 3 per 1,000 sf required for broadcasting studios, catering, offices, and research and development.

Changing the answer for a site means changing the zoning. A zoning map amendment under Sec. 25-36 is a matter committed to the legislative discretion of the city council, while a variance under Sec. 25-43 reaches dimensional standards and numerical use-specific standards only to the extent it does not result in allowing a use that is prohibited in the district.