Planning Commission rejects bitcoin mining facility

STARKVILLE – To the delight of a standing-room only crowd at City Hall on Tuesday, the Planning and Zoning Commission denied a special use exemption that would have allowed for a bitcoin mining facility to operate on Industrial Park Road.

The commission rejected the bid, agreeing with City Planner Daniel Havelin and Assistant City Planner Lyle MeCaskey’s recommendation due to project representatives’ inability to address unknowns, missing information from the application and public outcry in opposition to the project.

“I’ve never had an applicant that had such a contentious issue be so unprepared,” Jeremiah Dumas, Ward 6 commissioner, told The Dispatch after the meeting. “…You’re talking about a multimillion-dollar thing that people generally don’t like anyway. You would think they would come in there prepared but, no, not at all.”

The proposed bitcoin mining facility needs a special exemption to develop on 407 Industrial Park Road under Starkville’s Unified Development Code even though the area is zoned for industrial use because this type of facility is not specifically identified in the UDC. Coopers Land LLC applied for special use permission on behalf of the project and the three other companies listed for the project: Aspire Property Inc, Bitdeers Technologies Group and Starkville Energy LLC.