Talladega County Zoning: The Childersburg Data Center Rezoning

Talladega County's other major current zoning story has nothing to do with the Superspeedway: the City of Childersburg has rezoned a historic 486-acre former munitions site for a proposed $6 billion hyperscale data center, and the surrounding area -- including Munford -- has real, documented public pushback over water and power use.

This page covers what's specific to Talladega County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

A former Manhattan Project-linked munitions site, rezoned for a data center

The site at the center of this story is genuinely unusual: the 486-acre former Alabama Ordnance Works property in Childersburg, a Talladega County city of roughly 5,000 people. Built during World War II to manufacture millions of pounds of explosives, the site also has a documented historical connection to producing heavy water used in the Manhattan Project. The federal government transferred the property to the City of Childersburg in 2003, and it sat as part of the city's industrial park in the decades since.

In 2025-2026, developer Western Hospitality Partners proposed converting the site into a hyperscale data-center campus -- a $6 billion project with a stated capacity of 500 megawatts, enough electricity to power roughly 375,000 homes at full load. The Childersburg City Council unanimously approved a change to the city's own zoning ordinance creating a "planned unit development" (PUD) designation specifically to permit the data center's operation on the site, and the city separately signed a purchase agreement for the 486-acre parcel valued at roughly $17 million. As of this pass, the project remains in an environmental due-diligence phase assessing the former military land's readiness for redevelopment, with a projected 200-plus permanent jobs and nearly 2,000 construction jobs if it proceeds.

Real, documented community pushback -- and a familiar confidentiality pattern

This is not a project moving forward without friction. At a public meeting held in Talladega County on September 2, 2026, state lawmakers fielded pointed questions from residents about how much water and power a facility of this scale would actually consume, and offered assurances that regulatory safeguards exist to prevent the project from raising other ratepayers' electricity bills. Opposition has been specifically documented in Munford, elsewhere in Talladega County: resident Jeff Bonner was quoted questioning whether the area's rivers, streams, and creeks are large enough to support a project of this scale and keep it running. Lawmakers reportedly planned a follow-up trip to Georgia to examine operating data centers there as part of their own due diligence on the issue.

Separately, Childersburg's mayor, Ken Wesson, has confirmed signing a confidentiality agreement with the data-center developer -- limiting what he could disclose publicly about deal specifics even as community questions mounted. That's the same pattern of mayor-level non-disclosure agreements with data-center developers this project has separately documented in Shelby County's Columbiana dispute, suggesting this may be a recurring feature of how Alabama municipalities are currently negotiating large data-center deals rather than a one-off in either county.

What this means for land in Talladega County

If you're evaluating land in or near Childersburg, Munford, or elsewhere in Talladega County, this dispute is worth tracking for several reasons. First, it shows the county's cities retain real, active zoning power that the county government itself largely lacks (see this county's hub page on the absence of a comprehensive county zoning ordinance) -- Childersburg's PUD rezoning is a genuine, unilateral exercise of municipal authority that could reshape land values and infrastructure demand across a wide area if the project proceeds. Second, the scale of water and power demand being debated publicly is directly relevant to any nearby parcel's own well, water-system, or utility planning -- a 500-megawatt facility's water and grid draw is a legitimate factor in evaluating rural land anywhere in the surrounding watershed, not just the immediate site. Third, given the confidentiality-agreement pattern seen here and in Shelby County, don't assume that public silence from city officials means a project has stalled or been abandoned -- ask directly and repeatedly rather than relying on the absence of news.

As of this pass, the project's environmental due-diligence phase means its ultimate fate -- built as proposed, scaled back, or abandoned -- is not yet settled. Anyone evaluating land specifically because of anticipated data-center-driven growth (or specifically to avoid it) should confirm the project's current status directly with the Childersburg city government and the Talladega County Economic Development Authority rather than relying on this page's September 2026 snapshot.

Zoning in Talladega County: The Childersburg Hyperscale Data Center

A former Manhattan Project-linked munitions site, rezoned for a data center

Real, documented community pushback -- and a familiar confidentiality pattern

What this means for land in Talladega County

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