AVAIO Digital has sued Pulaski County in federal court, challenging regulations adopted this week for data centers and other high-intensity digital infrastructure in unincorporated parts of the county.
ADP Little Rock Data Hub LLC, which also operates under the name AVAIO Digital, filed the civil complaint Thursday, Oct. 29, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The defendants are Pulaski County, County Judge Barry Hyde and Justice of the Peace Julie Blackwood.
Challenge to county ordinance
The lawsuit contests Ordinance 26-OR-19, which sets additional requirements for high-intensity digital infrastructure uses, including data centers, in areas outside the county’s incorporated cities. The Pulaski County Quorum Court approved the ordinance Oct. 27 after voting 10-4 to override Hyde’s veto.
AVAIO alleges that the ordinance was written and applied in a way that singles out its proposed data center. The company also argues that the county requirements interfere with authority reserved to state and federal regulators over electricity and that the measure treats data centers differently from other types of businesses. Those are allegations in the company’s complaint and have not been resolved by the court.
The company says county officials granted final approval for its site plan on Aug. 11, after AVAIO completed conditions tied to an earlier approval. The lawsuit contends that the later ordinance adds obligations to a project that had already received that approval.
- The complaint seeks compensatory damages in the maximum amount allowed by law.
- AVAIO also asks the court to award attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
- The company challenges both the ordinance and the county’s handling of public-records requests.
Open-records allegations
AVAIO separately alleges that county officials discussed and coordinated the ordinance through private communications rather than in public meetings, raising claims under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. The company also says it submitted a public-records request Oct. 19 and did not receive all of the records it sought.
The complaint refers to communications involving Wendell Griffen, a candidate for Pulaski County judge, and alleges that he assisted with drafting and circulating proposed regulations. The filing places those allegations within the company’s broader challenge to how the ordinance was developed and approved.
The lawsuit is at the pleading stage. The federal court has not ruled on AVAIO’s claims, and the filing does not establish that Pulaski County officials violated the law or that the ordinance is invalid. The county and the other defendants will have an opportunity to respond in the case.
