Fairfield residents will have an opportunity later this month to learn more about a proposed data center that city officials are considering as a potential economic development project.

The city will hold a public town hall on Tuesday, July 28, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fairfield Civic Center. Residents will be able to hear details about the proposal, ask questions and offer feedback before the city makes a final decision.

District 5 City Councilor Courtney Turner disclosed the proposal in a five-page open letter released last week.

The facility would be a colocation data center, where multiple companies rent space for servers while the operator supplies power, cooling, security and network infrastructure. Colocation facilities are generally smaller than the hyperscale campuses built for major technology companies and artificial intelligence workloads.

Turner urged residents to evaluate the Fairfield project on its own facts rather than assume it would have the same size or effects as other proposed developments.

“Our responsibility is to ask difficult questions, evaluate the facts, consider the benefits and potential impacts, listen to our residents, and ultimately make decisions that are in the best interest of Fairfield,” Turner wrote in the public letter.

Few details about the project have been released. The city has not publicly identified the developer, proposed location, investment amount, projected power demand or number of permanent jobs.

Turner described the proposal as a potential source of economic development but said the City Council must consider its effects on residents and the environment before moving forward.

The Fairfield discussion comes as data center development receives growing attention across the Birmingham metropolitan area.

Birmingham approved a new zoning ordinance in June establishing 20 conditions for hyperscale data centers, including limits involving water consumption, noise, power generation, residential setbacks and disclosure of projected electrical demand.

QTS Data Centers is also pursuing a large campus in Bessemer that the company says could generate construction employment, permanent jobs and additional property tax revenue.

No agreement or final approval for the Fairfield proposal has been announced.

Sawyer Knowles is a state and political reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].