Cumberland County schedules May 18 public hearing on proposed moratorium for data-center permits

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted April 20 to hold a public hearing on May 18 to consider a proposed moratorium that would pause local permitting for data centers while the county studies their local impacts. County Attorney Rick Morfield told commissioners the moratorium is intended to buy time to evaluate electric- and water-system capacity, potential rate impacts, environmental noise and other local effects and to develop zoning or development-agreement safeguards.

Morfield said the county’s current zoning code does not contain a use category comparable to modern data centers, and that existing rules could allow a large facility to be permitted by analogy to unrelated industrial uses. He recommended a temporary pause to allow the county to craft legally defensible rules, coordinate with electric utilities and potential public water suppliers, and consider site-visit fact-finding with jurisdictions that host operating data centers.

Commissioners raised concerns about the draft’s breadth and asked staff to tighten the definition so that secondary computing uses by employers (for example, a company’s internal server rooms at a corporate headquarters) would not be caught by a moratorium aimed at large cloud- or co-location facilities. Commissioners also asked staff to compile sample ordinances and moratoria adopted elsewhere in North Carolina, to quantify electricity and water use comparisons, and to evaluate potential equal-protection risks if the rule singled out data centers without comparable treatment for other high-usage facilities.

Vice Chair Sherman Jones asked staff to engage the joint planning board, coordinate with the City of Fayetteville and provide a shared repository of materials to commissioners. The board voted unanimously to set the May 18 evening public hearing and to direct staff to return refined draft language, supporting studies, and examples from peer jurisdictions.

If the moratorium is adopted following public hearing, commissioners would have the time to consider either ordinance changes, development agreements with enforceable conditions, or other regulatory approaches before lifting the pause. Morfield said the statutory process requires a public hearing and that a moratorium is the appropriate tool to preserve local control while the county develops permanent standards.