County commissioners Monday will hear comments about a potential moratorium on data centers in Columbus County.
The 90-day pause, which can be extended, is designed to give county staff time to further research the facilities. The city of Whiteville has already approved a moratorium for the same purpose.
The jump in cloud-based operating systems and storage has led to a surge in data center construction across the country. Critics of the facilities say the centers put unnecessary strain on local power and water grids, in addition to developing farmland.
Different types of data centers require different levels of public infrastructure. Centers that simply house large servers used for artificial intelligence require fewer resources than those involved in cryptocurrency “mining”.
The county stands to see a windfall from equipment and property taxes from data centers if they are approved here, commissioners said.
Monday’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.
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