The Fayetteville City Council clashed over data center regulation on Monday, exposing a disagreement on the council about who should guide the city’s approach to an industry moving faster than its rules.
A motion to begin crafting policy died without a second after a tense exchange between Council member Shaun McMillan and Mayor Mitch Colvin over whether the council or the city’s Planning Commission should take the lead.
The debate comes a month after the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation (FCEDC) warned that data centers are coming “whether the region is ready or not.” Robert Van Geons, FCEDC’s president and CEO, urged local governments to set clear rules before companies begin submitting proposals.
Some residents who attended the FCEDC forum on January 29 opposed data centers, voicing concerns about rising utility costs, environmental impacts, and what many described as a lack of transparency from city and county officials.
In February, Cumberland County commissioners held a special meeting, directing staff to draft an ordinance with a built‑in public comment process.
Fayetteville’s response has been far less clear.
The confusion came to a head when McMillan introduced a motion directing staff to begin researching policy options for regulating data centers. He framed the request as a matter of urgency and public accountability.
“The data center era arrives wrapped in the language of innovation and economic development,” McMillan said. “It becomes tempting for local officials to rubber‑stamp approvals before the public understands what’s at stake.”
McMillan outlined several possible approaches, including requiring Special Use Permits for all data center developments, imposing a temporary moratorium on new applications while the city writes rules, and creating data‑center‑specific development standards for noise, water use, energy disclosure, setbacks, landscaping, and stormwater management.
But Colvin pushed back, saying the Planning Commission—a volunteer advisory board appointed by the council to guide long‑range planning and recommend policy—has been working on a data center ordinance since last fall and plans to present it to the council soon.
“It would be prudent to hear what came out of that meeting, since they had been working on it for a while,” Colvin said.
The tone shifted and voices raised when McMillan tried to draw a distinction between the council’s authority and the Planning Commission’s role. Colvin interrupted, and McMillan snapped back: “They advise, we lead.”
No other council members commented, and McMillan’s motion failed for lack of a second.
A Regional Debate Arrives in Fayetteville
Fayetteville is not alone in confronting the issue. Across the state, Chatham County, Gates County, and the town of Canton have enacted 12‑month moratoriums on new data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities.
Meanwhile, Richmond County has taken the opposite approach, offering incentives to attract a $10 billion Amazon data center near Rockingham.
Across North Carolina, debates over data centers tend to split communities.
In each case, communities have pushed hard to make their voices heard—whether by urging caution, demanding clearer rules, or calling for outright moratoriums.
Members of Fayetteville Freedom For All—a grassroots organization known for its government‑watchdog work—said the Planning Commission’s months‑long work on an ordinance came as a surprise.
Angela Tatum, a FFFA member, said she doubts community concerns have been taken seriously. “They’re literally just pacifying us,” she said.
Lisette Rodriguez, FFFA’s founder, said the process feels like “an attempt to sidestep public input.”
McMillan said he learned of the Planning Commission’s work in late February after emailing colleagues to seek support for his planned work‑session motion.
Council member Lynne Greene said she also was not aware and wants to hear the commission’s recommendations before taking a position. She said she is hesitant to support a moratorium without understanding its potential impact.
“I don’t like to do things and then have to undo,” Greene said.
Planning Commission’s Data Center Ordinance
According to City Clerk Jen Ayer, the data center ordinance appeared before the Planning Commission in October 2025 and again in February. Records obtained by CityView show that staff presented an initial five‑part draft ordinance package last fall.
A Planning Commission staff report describes a working group—including planning, zoning, the airport, Fayetteville Public Works Commission, the fire marshal, development services, public services, information technology, and the FCEDC—assembled to identify specific recommendations for a data center ordinance.
The working group’s goal, according to the report, was to create a predictable pathway for where data centers can go while directly regulating the impacts that actually occur: outdoor mechanical yards, generator noise and testing schedules, utility demand, and on‑site power generation.
The motivation, staff wrote, stemmed from a basic code gap: “data center” is not currently a clear, defined, enforceable use category in the Unified Development Ordinance. That’s the city’s master rulebook for what can be built where and under what conditions.
What the Draft Ordinance Would Do
CityView requested the full draft ordinance from the city but has so far only been able to review a PowerPoint presentation shown to the Planning Commission in February.
The proposal creates different levels of public input and city control depending on where a data center is proposed, with the zoning district determining whether a project is automatic or subject to a public hearing.
Data centers in all residential zoning districts are banned outright.
For the city’s commercial and mixed‑use districts—the parts of Fayetteville designed for offices, shopping centers, and downtown‑style development, a Special Use Permit would be required.
In these districts, a data center isn’t automatic: the developer must go through a public hearing, the Planning Commission, and City Council, and the city can add conditions or deny the project.
In selected industrial areas, data centers would be allowed “by right.”
A use allowed “by right” gives a developer automatic approval as long as the site plan meets the written standards—meaning no hearing, no public input, and no opportunity for the city to add conditions.
Fayetteville’s zoning map places the industrial districts directly beside some long‑established residential neighborhoods—including single‑family homes, mixed‑residential blocks, and older rental areas along corridors like Murchison Road, Shaw Mill Road, and Bragg Boulevard.
The ordinance attempts to soften those impacts by regulating noise limits, generator testing hours, and the placement of mechanical equipment relative to residential edges.
And for proposals in any zone that include an on-site energy center, or an industrial‑scale backup‑power system, a Special Use Permit would be required.
Rodriguez, FFFA’s founder, said the “by right” clause concerns her. “They want to give a blanket license for data centers to develop,” she said. “We need the City and County to both pass a one-year moratorium on data centers and crypto mining,” she said.
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com or 910-988-8045.
Did you find this story useful or interesting? It was made possible by donations from readers like you to the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation so CityView can bring you more news and information like this.
