Data center impact study can now begin

Consultants can now begin work on a noise and vibration study across Johnson City that will determine the impact data centers could have on communities, following the city commission's contract approval last week. Ahead of the commission's Thursday approval, city staff laid out the study's timeline and plans during the commission's work session. Johnson City Planning Manager Whitney Hodges gave a presentation to commissioners alongside planner Heath Martin about the noise and vibration study. Hodges said the study's results will ideally guide city staff in proposing changes to the city's noise ordinance and the zoning ordinance for the I-2 heavy industrial district. "The purpose of our study is to evaluate the noise and vibration impacts of data centers," Hodges told commissioners at the work session Thursday. "We kind of just need to know, at this point in time, where are we at across the city as far as what we would consider as the base level of noise." Hodges said JPM Acoustics, the California-based consultant conducting the study, will be collecting data on 10 specific sites throughout the city. Hodges also said the city plans to launch a public-facing website for the study and schedule an opportunity for a representative from consultant to speak to members of the public. "We hope that the noise study will start in March... so the consultant will be on site for the [Johnson City Coalition Against Bitcoin Mining] community meeting, because that would be a great way for them to kind of hear from the person doing the study," Hodges said. "We also would like to have a website so that we can put some of this stuff online so that people can see what ... language that we're already looking at." The noise study comes after public outcry over a possible Bitcoin mine in South Johnson City. The mining of bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrencies is one of the many ways a data center can be used. Hodges said city staff have included concerned community members in the noise regulation talks. Sylvain Bruni, Johnson City resident and advocate, was the community representative on the committee that Hodges called during the work session a "working group." Following the commission's approval of the impact study, Bruni said the meetings with staff have been productive. "They (city staff) really wanted to have some community input on a regular basis," Bruni said. "Since January, basically, we've been meeting every other week." Although he spoke highly of city staff's cooperation, Bruni said he was frustrated with delays in the process. In June 2025, the Johnson City Commission placed a one-year pause, also known as a moratorium, on all heavy industrial development so staff could learn more about the community impacts of data centers. "Even when the community and myself were very pushy to get things to move in June [2025], it still took 258 days to actually get somebody on contract to do the work," Bruni said. During the work session, Commissioner Joe Wise suggested that future federal regulation could nullify the city's efforts to regulate this type of development, although he still supports the zoning and noise ordinance updates. "I guess I'm just trying to help manage community expectations because I think an awful lot of passion has been directed at the city commission on this question," Wise said. "And we've been on their side since before they even knew they had a position on this issue, and I don't know if most of them recognize that." "Last summer is when it came to a head, but this conversation goes back several years before that when the city proactively began a conversation about data centers," Wise said. The impact study is set to conclude mid to late April and with hopes for ordinance updates to be adopted by June 5, the end of the moratorium on I-2 development.