Fayetteville residents pressed economic development officials for clarity Thursday as the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation hosted a forum on how the city and county plan to handle future data center proposals.
About 50 people attended the meeting, which was billed as an informational session.
It quickly became a space for residents to voice concerns about rising utility costs, environmental impacts, and what many described as a lack of transparency from city and county officials.
The concerns come as interest in the region grows. Fayetteville currently has one small data center downtown, and a Charlotte‑based company has submitted plans for a 200‑megawatt facility—a scale that would require significant power and infrastructure.
Robert Van Geons, FCEDC’s president and CEO, said Fayetteville isn’t offering incentives to attract data centers. Still, he said the region has received “half a dozen” inquiries in recent years—none of which advanced past being proposals—and expects more.
“We simply need to have these conversations. We are not ready,” he said.
Van Geon’s message to residents and elected officials was blunt: The industry is coming whether the city is prepared or not.
“I believe with the interest out there and the power lines we already have here, they are coming,” he said. “They don’t belong everywhere and next to everyone, even if they do have the power. So what we’re saying is, let’s develop the rules and regulations and say where they can’t go.”
Van Geons told CityView that while industrial and commercial projects must meet existing development standards, Fayetteville does not have additional requirements tailored to large data centers.
“There are things that we go after, and there are things that we respond to,” he said. “And we need to be better prepared to respond to the things that we aren’t going after.”
Understanding Data Center Trade‑Offs
John Geib, a former Duke Energy employee and founder of Kilowatts Collaborative LLC, walked attendees through the basics of how data centers operate and their demands on a local community.
He described data centers as “potentially huge power consumers” that can leave little electricity available for future growth. They also require relatively few employees—often just 20 to 30—though those jobs tend to be high paying.
“If somebody comes to you and says, we’re asking for 100 megawatts and we’re going to have 200 employees, most of them are at the security gate or they’re cutting grass,” he said.
Geib noted that data centers can be large water users and often use on‑site generators, which carry environmental risks if emissions aren’t managed properly.
But he also outlined the benefits: massive capital investment, a stronger tax base, and companies that often become major community donors. “They bring infrastructure of the future,” he said.
Geib said Duke Energy, one of the state’s major electric utilities, and state regulators negotiated new rules in 2025 to manage the surge of data center proposals across North Carolina. Among them: companies must pay $100,000 upfront to the electric utility for a system load model to determine whether the grid can support the project. Data centers must also prove they control the land, show they’ve spoken with local officials about zoning, and fund the construction of any needed electric transmission infrastructure.
Under a separate state law, qualifying data centers are exempt from sales and use tax on servers, cooling systems, cabling, software, batteries, generators, and other equipment—as well as on the electricity they consume.
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.
