The St. Louis City NAACP is urging the Board of Aldermen to revise a proposed zoning measure that would create new regulations for data centers in the city.
Adolphus M. Pruitt II, president of the St. Louis NAACP branch, testified Tuesday before the Board of Aldermen’s Urban Development and Zoning Committee that data centers should be regulated responsibly while also being used to help expand the city’s tax base, support public schools and fund digital equity programs.
The framework argues that Black communities should share in the economic benefits of artificial intelligence while being protected from disproportionate environmental and infrastructure impacts.
The measure, Board Bill 49, would establish zoning rules for data centers after months of public hearings and debate over how the city should regulate the rapidly growing industry. The Planning Commission recommended the regulations before forwarding them to the Board of Aldermen. The discussion has intensified following the proposed $3 billion Armory Innovation District in Midtown, which includes a large data center.
Supporters have promoted data centers as engines of economic growth, while critics have raised concerns about electricity demand, water consumption and environmental impacts. After rejecting an outright ban on large data centers, the Planning Commission instead advanced zoning regulations that would allow them under specified conditions.
During those discussions, Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer said the city was confronting “an unregulated industry” because of its intensity of use and demand on resources.
The NAACP is asking aldermen to strengthen the bill with enforceable community benefits agreements, local hiring commitments, minority- and women-owned business participation goals, and public reporting on energy and water use.
Pruitt said data center revenue could help support North St. Louis residents through workforce training, AI education, telehealth access, small-business development and programs such as Connect STL and Heat Up St. Louis.
“AI is inevitable. Equity in AI is not,” Pruitt said in prepared testimony.
The NAACP also recommended replacing the bill’s blanket 600-foot residential setback with an adjacent property owner consent process, modeled after the city’s liquor license petition system. That would allow nearby residents to have direct input when a proposed data center is planned near their property.
Pruitt also called for similar environmental and cumulative impact standards to apply to large industrial users already operating in the city, including those with high water or energy demands.
The NAACP asked aldermen to remove the emergency clause from the bill to allow more time for public review and revision.
The recommendations build on a Community Benefit Framework the organization released last week calling for stronger protections, greater transparency and enforceable investments in neighborhoods that could be affected by the rapid expansion of data centers and AI infrastructure.
The framework argues that Black communities should share in the economic benefits of artificial intelligence while being protected from disproportionate environmental and infrastructure impacts. It also calls for independent oversight, public access to information about energy and water use, and enforceable community benefits tied to major data center projects.
Pruitt said St. Louis has an opportunity to regulate data centers in a way that protects residents, expands opportunity and helps prepare underserved communities for the growing AI economy.