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Data Center Moratorium and Zoning Text Amendment

Context

Residents asked for a data center moratorium. Staff said current zoning treats data centers as warehouses (written 2024 opinions say by-right in LI/HI) and that the Hurricane Helene legislation added a no-downzoning clause. The county is writing a text amendment regulating data centers as a special use.

Status

Moratorium hearing set for October 26 along with the text amendment hearing (planning board October 6 and 20). Draft: Class A special use permit in LI/HI, tiered by power use, 55 dB limit at the property line, sound studies, decommissioning and engineer certification of cooling. Duke requires a $100K study for loads over 100 MW. Yates opposes a moratorium and incentives; the attorney warned adopting both is in conflict.

Planning Board track: the Commissioners' application (9/3) went to the Planning Board, which reviewed the draft section by section on October 6, heard public comment and continued it 5-0 to October 20 as a working session. Under state law the Board has 30 days from referral to recommend, so October 20 is its last chance before the October 26 hearing. Draft features as of the October 20 packet: five classes by power use (Edge under 5 MW, Enterprise 5 to 20, Co-Lo 20 to 100, Hyperscale and Hyperscale AI over 100); Edge and Enterprise allowed in commercial, industrial and mixed-use districts, Co-Lo by special use in LI, HI, MX-C and PEC, hyperscale only in HI and PEC; 55 dBA at the lot line; setbacks of 200 feet from any lot line, 500 from residential or agricultural land and 1,000 from schools, worship, assisted living and child care; a 100-foot buffer (50 with a berm); decommissioning security of 1.25 times cost less half salvage, or $75,000; open-loop and evaporative cooling and private wells prohibited; a proposed $500-a-day penalty for heavy impact land uses. The Assistant County Attorney cautioned that an outright ban on data centers or on evaporative cooling would be hard to defend.

Log

  • 2026-10-20 - Planning Board - Agenda for the continued Planning Board review: staff edits highlighted after October 6 (classification by power at buildout, 40-foot berm, 1,000-foot child care setback, evaporative cooling ban, new special use permit on expansion); goal is consensus to forward to the Commissioners for October 26.
  • 2026-10-06 - Planning Board - Planning Board section-by-section review of the draft (55 dBA, 200/500/1,000-foot setbacks, decommissioning bond, water); public comment from neighbors, Tavis Curry and Commissioner Mizell; continued 5-0 to October 20.
  • 2026-10-01 - Board of Commissioners Info Meeting - Workshop of Crook's draft special use ordinance; Yates urged bundling the moratorium vote with the text amendment.
  • 2026-09-28 - Board of Commissioners - Agenda amended 4-2 to add the moratorium (yes: Mizell, Shook, Elliott, Kester; no: Shell, Watford). Mizell proposed four months; a voice vote reported 4-2 set a moratorium hearing for October 26 (opposition not clear in captions). A commissioner told an audience member to shut up and later apologized (attribution unclear).
  • 2026-09-15 - Planning Board - Posted file is a data center background packet (Commissioner topic list, Curry's benchmark and facts sheets, SB 730, other counties' ordinances); no minutes.
  • 2026-09-14 - Board of Commissioners - Consent agenda approved the text amendment application; speakers sought 12-month moratorium.
  • 2026-09-03 - Board of Commissioners Info Meeting - Workshop with Crook: text amendment, planning board workshop, hearing October 26; special use permit approach.
  • 2026-08-24 - Board of Commissioners - Six-month moratorium failed 3-3 on roll call (yes: Kester, Mizell, Elliott; no: Shell, Yates, Watford); McClure absent.
  • 2026-08-06 - Board of Commissioners Info Meeting - Clerk reported no responses to site-visit requests from Apple, Google (Maiden) or the Lenoir site; will contact EDPNC.
  • 2026-08-04 - Planning Board - Planning Board discussed hyperscale data centers; Crook described Duke's $100,000 study fee and 90 percent deposit; Board expected a county moratorium.