Cumberland County is preparing to extend its data center moratorium by six months to give itself more time to prepare zoning regulations for the controversial computing facilities.
The original six-month moratorium expires December 15.
“We’re not going to be able to have an amendment to the zoning ordinance by that time, and I think we have a substantial risk that we need to make sure we keep ourselves covered.” County Attorney Rick Moorefield told the county Board of Commissioners on Thursday.
The county probably will not need six more months to complete and enact the new regulations, Moorefield said, so he suggested that the extension include a caveat that it would terminate upon adoption of the data center zoning ordinance.
State law requires the board to hold a public hearing before voting to extend the moratorium. It plans to hold the hearing and vote on the extension December 14.
Commissioners enacted the data center moratorium in June to pause new construction while county staff and the Joint Planning Board developed regulations to address problems seen at other data centers across the country—such as noise and high water usage from their cooling systems, and high electricity usage. The planning board sent a draft of the proposed data center ordinance to commissioners in November.
Commissioners will consider the ordinance at its meeting Monday. After that, an updated version of the proposed ordinance should be ready in December or January, County Manager Clarence Grier said.
Cumberland County’s data center moratorium and any future data center regulations apply outside the Fayetteville city limit.
The City Council has approved regulations on data centers, but they don’t take effect until December 7. That is also when the councils plans to hold a public hearing on whether to enact its own moratorium. Councilmembers have been divided on whether to impose a moratorium in the city.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
