The plan to develop a $14 billion data center campus in rural Alabama that developers tout as among the “largest private investments in Alabama’s history” is moving forward.

On Tuesday the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of rural land just southwest of Birmingham to make way for the development of an 18-building hyperscale data center campus.

Councilmembers Cleo King and Donna Thigpen voted no. King said that it was “the most tough decision” he’s made in 12 years of public service.

Council member Carla Jackson told the crowded chambers right before the vote that the council had listened to residents.

“We’re people, too. So please respect us no matter what the vote is,” Jackson said. “We can’t even go to Walmart because of all the badgering. Yes, this was a ve

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