TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU:
FROM: Council Member Shaun McMillan
DATE: June 1, 2026
RE:Title
Council Member Agenda Item Request - Direction to Staff to Draft Data Center Moratorium Ordinance - Council Member McMillan
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COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal 3-City investment in today and tomorrow
Goal 5- Financially sound City
Goal 6- Collaborative Citizen and Business Engagement base
Executive Summary:
This request asks Council to consider and vote on the following motion at the May 4, 2026 Work Session:
"I move that the City Council direct staff to prepare a draft moratorium ordinance on data center development applications, consistent with applicable City policy and N.C.G.S. ? 160D-107, and to return that draft to Council for consideration. The duration, scope, and specific findings of the moratorium will be determined by Council at the time of adoption."
Purpose. This is a procedural directive. It instructs staff to prepare a working draft of a moratorium ordinance for Council's later consideration. It does not adopt a moratorium. It does not commit Council to a duration, a scope, or specific findings. Each of those substantive decisions remains in Council's hands at the adoption vote, where N.C.G.S. ? 160D-107(d) requires a full legislative public hearing and four written statements before any moratorium can take effect.
Why now. Several North Carolina jurisdictions have adopted twelve-month data center moratoria in the past sixty days: Chatham County (February), Wendell (April 13), Apex (April 14), Rowan County (April 20), and Orange County (April 21). Cumberland County has scheduled its public hearing for May 13. Durham and Harnett are scheduled for May 4th, the same day as this Work Session. Adjacent jurisdictions have produced a settled procedural and substantive template that Fayetteville staff can adapt rather than build from scratch.
What staff ...
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