A flurry of legal activity during the past two weeks has surrounded a hyperscale data center under construction in Birmingham’s Oxmoor Valley neighborhood. Two new lawsuits related to the controversial project were filed last week, and on Thursday a judge consolidated three existing ones.
The consolidated lawsuits allege the city of Birmingham illegally granted permits for the data center, which is being built in a mixed-use zoning district near homes and a school, and ask for a permanent end to the project. Residents and the Greater Birmingham Humane Society filed those suits. The humane society had planned to build a medical facility for traumatized animals on land adjacent to the data-center site.
“There are a number of issues that are common to all the lawsuits, so it makes sense to have the same judge decide those common issues,” said Mark Parnell, an attorney for the residents…