Charlotte City Council considering data center moratorium

CHARLOTTE — Across North Carolina, communities are cracking down on, or at least pausing, data center construction.

Rowan County passed a one-year moratorium last month. Boone passed one in March. Durham passed a 60-day moratorium Monday night.

A similar measure could be coming to Charlotte, but city staff wants to lay out the stakes.

In University City, construction is underway off University City Drive. In 2023, Charlotte City Council approved a data center project here.

PowerHouse Charlotte is planning up to 5 2-story data center buildings with up to 1.5 million square feet. The first one will be done in April.

That’s a far cry from the current controversy surrounding this plot of land on Hood Road. A developer is planning a 40-thousand-square-foot data center if the council approves a rezoning.

Council Member Dimple Ajmera doesn’t want that to happen.

“We are seeing data centers being proposed closer and closer to homes, where people live, and closer to residential communities,” Ajmera said.

Ajmera is pushing for a moratorium on data center construction.

Durham City Council approved a 60-day pause on Monday night.

Channel 9 Government Reporter Joe Bruno obtained a memo sent by city attorney Andrea Leslie Fite to council members.

The memo said that if Charlotte wants to put in place a moratorium, the city needs to release a statement of the problems or conditions and what courses of action were considered.

The city also needs to provide a list of developments subject to the moratorium and how the moratorium will address the problems or conditions. The moratorium would not apply to any project that already has permits.

“This is currently the Wild Wild West, and there are no guard drills in place to protect our community from data center development,” Ajmera said. “So until we have regulations in place, we need a pause so we can work on guardrails.”

City staff is scheduled to give a presentation to Charlotte City Council Monday night on data centers.

Council Member Dante Anderson says she is looking forward to hearing from city staff. She wants to know how a potential moratorium impacts places data centers can be built without council approval.

She said it is important the conversation isn’t rushed so the city can get it right.

“I think pretty much all of council wants a level of data center restrictions,” she said. “We just need to be well informed before we make the decision.”

There will have to be a public hearing before Charlotte City Council holds any vote on a potential moratorium. That hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Mayor Vi Lyles broke a tie last month to prevent the public hearing from happening Monday.

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