Johnson City's new planning head eyes stronger data center regulations

One month into his role, Johnson City Planning Director Steve Neilson is ready to take on Johnson City's fast-paced growth and development, while also addressing community concerns. With the rise of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the state and nationwide, local regulations for data centers are one priority for many residents — and for Neilson too. In an interview, Neilson said the city's ongoing code updates to address data center impacts take up a good portion of his time as the planning division's leader. A proposed 200-foot minimum separation distance between data centers and residential developments was at the center of public disapproval of the code changes when they passed the planning commission in June. With the guidance of a new model code developed by the University of Tennessee, Neilson believes this distance can be much greater depending on the size and type of data center, which can also be further defined by zoning code. "It's very comprehensive. It covered a lot of areas that we didn't have in the code that was approved by the planning commission," Neilson said. "So what we would like to do is take that and kind of splice it together with what we already have." In October, the UT Center for Local Planning released a model template for municipal data center zoning regulations. The guidelines were produced with assistance from the UT Municipal Technical Advisory Service legal consultants. "When you get into the larger [data centers], the setbacks and buffer requirements are far greater than what was under the current code, so I think that will address some of the concerns of the people," he said. Neilson said he hopes to bring a refreshed set of zoning regulations to the planning commission for the first round of approval by the end of December. Until then, he said he'll be meeting with an established committee, composed of city staff and a community representative, to get buy-in on the code updates. "By the end of the year, I'd like to have something everyone's comfortable with," he said. To address the growing need for affordable housing and overall housing shortage in Johnson City, Neilson said he wants to be more "creative" with recruiting home builders. He used developer incentives, partnerships with nonprofits and potential updates to the city's subdivision regulations to address affordability. Nielson also said he's excited to continue working alongside his planning team and, overall, said he's pleased with where the department was at when he stepped into the new role. "I'm excited because we have the people in place that'll make it easy for us to train the staff the way we want," he said. "So I'm pleased with where we're at." Neilson is a familiar face to many in the city, serving as its development coordinator in the planning division for 21 years. After leaving Johnson City in 2016, he worked as the city of Morristown's community development director for 10 years. In that role, he oversaw planning, building inspections, code enforcement and development. Neilson holds a bachelor's degree in political science and public administration, and a master's degree in urban and regional planning from Florida State University. He also holds a master of city management degree from East Tennessee State University, a credential he said helped him understand other city departments and how they work together with one another. In 2012, Neilson was awarded the Tennessee Distinguished Planner Award and received recognition from the Tennessee Planning Leadership Council. When Neilson was first hired for the position, Johnson City's planning division was operating with half of its usual six-person team of staff. Now, Neilson said all but one position on his team is filled.