CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte City Council is scheduled to decide Monday whether to keep its freeze on new data center development in place for most of another year.
The current moratorium runs out Nov. 5 unless council members act. The extension on the agenda would carry the pause until next October, giving city staff more time to research how the large computing facilities affect Charlotte and what kinds of rules the city could adopt.
Concerns that have driven the debate include the heavy electricity draw of the centers, the water they consume and their effects on nearby neighborhoods. An executive at Flexential, which operates a data center in north Charlotte, said this week that the city is asking the right questions about power and natural resources but argued that not every data center is built the same way.
The issue drew a crowd to the Government Center on Oct. 12, when the council took public comment on stretching the ban by as much as 11 months. Many residents urged a longer pause. Much of the local opposition has focused on an American Towers expansion in east Charlotte near Reedy Creek Nature Preserve, a smaller project whose permits were halted by the moratorium. Two far bigger projects, one on Moores Chapel Road and the PowerHouse University City facility, were not affected.
Union members pushed the other way, saying new construction means jobs. An electrician who organizes for her union said it counts roughly 1,000 members employed on area data center jobs. Most council members said they heard the workers’ concerns but planned to back the extension.
Section: More Charlotte NC politics news
Filed under: Charlotte NC Politics News
