Walls Planning Commission Denies Data Center Rezoning Request

The Walls Planning Commission has voted to deny a controversial Walls rezoning request that would have converted roughly 1,200 acres of farmland to industrial use, a change many residents feared would open the door to a data center. The vote came Tuesday night, Sept. 22, after a lengthy public hearing that drew a standing-room crowd to the Walls Elementary School gymnasium.

The hearing was originally scheduled for Walls City Hall but was moved to the school to make room for the large turnout. WREG reported that roughly 350 people attended, about a quarter of the town’s population of around 1,400.

What the Walls rezoning request would have done

The application, filed by landowners Robert and Will Abbay of Abbay Ag Services, asked the city to change the property from Agricultural Residential to M-1 Light Industrial. No specific project has been publicly announced for the land, but residents widely believe a data center was the intended use.

At a meeting earlier this month, Alderman Bruno Lauer noted that a data center could fall under M-1 zoning but said it was not the only possible use for the land.

Residents raise concerns about noise, utilities and history

Speakers at the hearing opposed the rezoning for a range of reasons, according to the DeSoto Times-Tribune:

• Schools: The land sits close to the Lake Cormorant schools.
• Utilities: Resident John Sullivan asked who would pay for upgrades to substations, power lines and water systems that a large data center could require.
• History: Resident Robert Long said the property is near a Native American site more than 500 years old, on ancestral Chickasaw land, and called any disturbance of it a desecration.
• Transparency: Business owner Mat Lipscomb said nondisclosure agreements could keep the public from knowing what is planned for the land.
• Quality of life: Several speakers pointed to the xAI power plant and data center in Southaven. Rebecca Madison, who said she lives less than 2,700 feet from that plant, described noise that keeps her family awake at night.

Landowners make the case for growth

Will Abbay argued that industrial zoning could bring revenue and badly needed infrastructure to Walls. He asked whether residents should have to drive across the county to eat out or fill a prescription, and said taxpayers and landowners cannot remain the county’s only source of revenue if the area wants to grow. He called the proposal “probably the least invasive process to growth that you can imagine.”

No other residents spoke in favor of the rezoning, according to the Times-Tribune.

What happens next

Commissioner Jimmy Jones made the motion to deny the request, and Commissioner Kyunna Gates seconded it. The Planning Commission’s vote is a recommendation. The Walls Mayor and Board of Aldermen will make the final decision on the rezoning. Earlier reports pointed to an Oct. 6 vote, but the Times-Tribune reported that no date has been formally set.

Residents who want to weigh in can contact Walls City Hall or attend the upcoming Board of Aldermen meeting once it is scheduled. DeSoto County News will follow the Walls rezoning decision as it moves to the aldermen.

Related coverage: A data center in the tiny town of Walls? Officials eye rezoning 1K acres

Source: DeSoto Times-Tribune; additional details from WREG