3 Commissioners Back Data Center Moratorium As Public Opposition Intensifies

Three Cumberland County commissioners said they would vote for a moratorium on data centers following a spirited public hearing held on the topic on Monday.

The hearing followed a data center teach-in held by Fayetteville Freedom for All, a grassroots community organizing group, on Saturday that drew about 45 people. Speakers at the teach-in called for a moratorium while local officials evaluate how to best regulate them to protect the community from their downsides.

The call for a moratorium was echoed by many participants at Monday’s public hearing. The event nearly filled the approximately 85 spectator seats in the commissioners’ meeting room. It drew 96 written comments, and 33 people spoke.

The growth of data centers—which can be facilities filled with fleets of computers—has generated public concern due to their vast consumption of electricity, use of water for cooling, and potential for noise pollution. They are expanding as modern society, commerce, and industry use them for data storage, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency production, and other computational needs.

At least two companies have expressed interest in building large data centers in Fayetteville.

County commissioners are considering an ordinance to regulate data centers. So is the Fayetteville City Council.

3 of 7 Commissioners Support Moratorium

“I agree with the moratorium. I’m just going to tell you: I’d vote for it,” Commissioner Glenn Adams said, drawing cheers and applause from the audience.

But he cautioned that the county’s powers are controlled by the state legislature. He said lawmakers in 2024 passed a measure limiting the ability of cities and counties to impose certain types of zoning restrictions. The General Assembly could cancel anything that the county does, he said.

“You’re here tonight talking to us, but you need to talk to your state legislators that’s going to Raleigh,” Adams said.

Commissioners’ Vice Chair Veronica Jones said she, too, supports a moratorium.

“And so I was listening very carefully, and what I did hear was no doubt you all do want a moratorium,” she said. “One-to-three years, growth without damage, people over profit, stop subsidizing billionaires.”

Commissioner Henry Tyson asked County Attorney Rick Moorefield about establishing a moratorium. A moratorium would need to be narrowly tailored and commissioners would have to hold another public hearing before approving it, Moorefield said.

“I take your opinions and your facts very seriously, and into consideration,” Tyson told the audience.

In a text message exchange on Tuesday, Tyson told CityView that he would also support a moratorium.

“I am in favor of the moratorium framework pending review of the details,” Tyson said. “It is important as a board that we look at reasonable guidelines that protect the community interests while ensuring that we continue to grow economically as a county. It [is] a balance and our community interests must come at the forefront as we continue to move through these discussions.”

Across North Carolina, moratoriums have been approved in Chatham County, Gates County, Boone, and Canton, and other communities are considering them.

Commissioners Chair Kirk deViere and Commissioner Pavan Patel also attended the hearing; Commissioners Marshall Faircloth and Jeannette Council were absent.

“If we move forward, I’ll know we’ll do it in a sustainable manner that protects everyone’s quality of life and future here in Cumberland County,” Patel said.

“I think what you’re going to see with this board is that we received the information tonight,” deViere said. “We’ve heard a lot of other information. And we will go back in a timely, thoughtful, and deliberate way and look at any next steps that we take as a board.”

Public Comments

Here are some of the public comments made at the meeting or submitted prior to it:

• People asking for a data center moratorium said it should be at least one year. Some said it should run as long as three years.
• Some people don’t want data centers to be built here. “I am concerned with AI data centers and their alternative use for cryptocurrency mining. The two drastically increase the cost of utilities and drive people away from their area of construction,” says a written comment. (Written comments that the county shared with CityView did not include the names of the people who wrote them.)
• “My main concern about the proposed data center is pollution,” said Robert Nimocks of Fayetteville. He cited air pollution from diesel generators that data centers used for back-up power when there is an electrical outage. He also had concerns about high water consumption at data centers, especially as Cumberland County is trying to stop water users upstream on the Cape Fear River from extracting more water from the river basin.
• Liz Reeser, chair of the Eastover Sanitary District, said her utility doesn’t have capacity to supply a large data center. One of the two recently proposed data centers would be near Eastover. “So if we have to pick priorities, it would be for not data centers but more industrial growth that uses a lot less water and also electricity,” she said.
• The city, county, and Greater Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce have a history of being fragmented in their policies and plans for the community, said Kristie Allen, a business owner and board member of the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corp. “If our regulations aren’t synchronized, we create a regulatory island that confuses our utilities like PWC and Duke and leaves our residents and recruited industry in a state of constant uncertainty,” she said. Duke Energy and the Fayetteville Public Works Commission provide electricity in Cumberland County.

Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.

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