Birmingham neighbors sue to stop 300 MW AI center, raising Valley questions
Two Oxmoor Valley homeowners filed a class-action suit to halt Nebius’ 300 MW AI campus in Birmingham. The fight previews zoning, power and noise debates Central Valley cities would face with a similar proposal.
Birmingham neighbors sue to stop 300 MW AI center, raising Valley questions
Key Takeaways
- Oxmoor Valley residents filed a May 13, 2026 class-action suit to halt Nebius’ proposed 300 MW AI campus.
- The suit argues Birmingham improperly advanced permits and that data centers weren’t covered by existing zoning rules.
- The campus would span roughly 80 acres with substations, cooling systems and generators.
- Birmingham passed a pause on large data centers this year, but this project was exempted as already in process.
- Central Valley cities would face similar fights over siting, grid load, noise and operating hours if a comparable project arrived.
The complaint landed first thing Wednesday at the Jefferson County clerk’s counter. Attorney K. Mark Parnell said his clients, Oxmoor Valley homeowners Madelyn Greene and David Butler, see the lawsuit as a last resort after months of public meetings. He said the proposed Nebius AI campus is too large for a site that sits near homes and apartments, and that the city pushed key approvals before the zoning caught up.
It matters here because if a 300 megawatt campus ever targeted the Central Valley, the same questions would hit Fresno’s council chambers or the Stanislaus supervisors in a hurry.
What the lawsuit says
Filed May 13, the suit asks a judge to stop construction and argues Birmingham’s rules didn’t contemplate a 24/7 hyperscale campus with substations, switching gear and fleets of generators. The residents say any grandfathered status vanished when the old Regions operations building on the site came down. They allege the city advanced power work even after a zoning board denial earlier this year.
Parnell put it bluntly: the public hasn’t had a fair say. "They sort of see this as a last resort," he told the station. The plaintiffs also seek compensation, saying the project has already dinged property values by changing the neighborhood’s character.
What the city has done so far
Birmingham passed a temporary pause on new big data center applications larger than 20 megawatts earlier this year. The Nebius proposal wasn’t covered because it was already moving through the pipeline. City officials have said they’re drafting specific data center rules. Parnell argues the current project wouldn’t meet what’s been discussed.
Scale drives the dispute. Three hundred megawatts is a major new industrial load for any city, and neighbors are focused on noise from cooling and generator testing, night lighting and round-the-clock traffic. A big number, any way you cut it.
Why Central Valley readers should care
We don’t have Nebius on a Fresno or Kern agenda today. But the playbook here will look familiar if one shows up. A project of this size would send utilities like Turlock Irrigation District or Merced Irrigation District into detailed interconnection studies, while local planners weigh buffers, substation siting and generator hours against nearby homes. In California, any proposal of that scope would trigger environmental review and months of public comment, which is the real venue where neighbors tend to win concessions or conditions.
If you live near industrial land in West Fresno or south of Modesto, you’ve seen this movie with other big power users. The difference with AI campuses is the 24/7 load and the sound profile of cooling gear, which puts more pressure on site design and setbacks. One small thing at City Hall doesn’t change, though. There’s always a half-empty pump bottle of hand sanitizer parked by the dais.
"We’re asking for the process to be followed and for our voices to matter," Parnell said.
Central Valley AI is produced by the CVAI Newsdesk team and developed by Kaweah Tech, a regional firm that builds, deploys, and integrates AI solutions for businesses across California's Central Valley.