TO: Mayor Colvin and Members of City Council
THRU: Dr. Douglas J. Hewett, ICMA-CM, City Manager
FROM: Dr. Andrew Mansell, Sr. Assistant to the City Manager
DATE: November 9, 2026
RE:Title
Consider Proposed Data Center Moratorium Ordinance and Set Public Hearing
Title
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COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal II, Economic and Strategic Growth
Executive Summary:
The City Council approved a motion calling for a public hearing on a temporary moratorium on development approvals for data storage facilities (data centers). N.C.G.S § 1670D-107, establishes the notice, hearing, and substantive requirements for adoption of a temporary development moratorium. The attached draft is presented for Council’s considerations.
The draft would pause development approvals for new or expanded data centers for up to 180 days, ending sooner if the supplemental standards it describes are adopted first. It does not change or delay the approved data center text amendments (TA26-01). The draft ordinance also establishes a task force of residents, subject-matter experts, and institutional partners to continue studying the community and environmental impacts of this use.
Background:
Between October 2025 and October 2026, the City conducted a preliminary study of data centers as a land use, Planning Commission and Council public hearings, site visits to operating facilities in Raleigh, North Carolina, and in Loudoun County, Virginia, expert presentations, three community listening sessions on September 30, 2026, and review by an outside attorney experienced in North Carolina land use law. That work produced TA26-01, adopted October 26, 2026, which establishes the City’s foundational zoning standards for data centers, including a conditional rezoning requirement and use-specific standards.
At adoption, Council recognized that the study had identified several subjects, extending beyond a zoning text amendment, that warrant continued work, including decommissioning and financial assurance, water consumption standards, building design, noise coordination with the pending Chapter 17 revisions, and electrical cost allocation, several of which depend on State, utility, and county processes still underway. Council simultaneously directed staff to begin the process of considering a temporary moratorium. This item presents the proposed framework and requests that Council schedule the public hearing.
Issues/Analysis:
The draft ordinance pauses the acceptance, processing, and approval of development applications for new or expanded data centers, with exemptions for small accessory and internal server facilities and for projects exempt under N.C.G.S. § 160D-107(c), together with any additional exemptions expressly provided in the ordinance. It contains the four statements N.C.G.S. § 160D-107(d) required of every moratorium: the problems it addresses and why alternatives are inadequate, the approvals it covers, its termination date and why that duration is necessary, and a plan of action with a schedule. It terminates automatically, and possibly well before the 180-day termination date, when the supplemental amendments are adopted and effective.
The moratorium does not reopen or amend TA26-01. The moratorium would provide time to evaluate and develop supplemental standards before additional covered approvals are issued, subject to applicable statutory exemptions, permit-choice protections, and vested rights.
Budget Impact:
No direct expenditure. Staff time will be required to support the task force and prepare the supplemental amendments within existing resources.
Options:
1. Set the public hearing for November 23, 2026.
2. Do not set the public hearing and provide direction to staff.
Recommended Action::Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council set the public hearing for November 23, 2026.
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Attachments:
1. Proposed Data Center Moratorium Ordinance
2. Presentation