Alamance County commissioners consider pause on new data-center development
Commissioners are weighing a freeze on new data centers while they decide how long it should last and what rules to write on water, power and land use.
Alamance County commissioners are considering a freeze on new data-center approvals while they decide how long a moratorium should last and what rules should govern water demand, electricity supply, tax incentives and nearby land use. A pause could stop applications before projects with large footprints are locked in for Mebane, Graham, Burlington and unincorporated areas near major roads.
A pause would give county officials time to test whether current zoning rules are strong enough to cover setbacks, height, screening, stormwater, utility connections and site design. It would also push more work onto the Alamance County Planning Department and elected officials, who would have to decide whether data centers should be treated like other industrial uses or handled under a separate standard for a land-use category that can bring heavy infrastructure needs and relatively few day-to-day jobs.
Data centers can widen the tax base with large private capital investments, while local governments may approve them before fully understanding water use, power demand, noise, traffic, construction impacts and pressure on nearby neighborhoods. Alamance has dealt with high-impact development before: it adopted a Land Development Plan in August 2007 and a Heavy Industrial Development Ordinance on Oct. 3, 2011, after an earlier Noxious or Unwanted Land Use Ordinance was adopted in 2006.
The county is moving in a region where neighbors have already taken different approaches. Orange County approved a one-year moratorium on data centers on April 21, and Chatham County became the second North Carolina county to halt permitting of new data centers on Feb. 13. Rowan County set a temporary moratorium to begin May 4 and last no more than a year, while Greensboro rejected a moratorium on July 22 and Alamance scheduled a hearing.
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