County commissioners Monday approved holding a public hearing in October before voting on a moratorium for data centers.
The hearing will be held Oct. 5, and the public will have the chance to speak up for or against the proposed 90-day moratorium. County attorney Amanda Prince asked that the commissioners pass the halt to give staff time to research the impacts and needs of data centers.
Whiteville recently passed its own moratorium on the tech hubs. More than 50 local governments have passed similar moratoriums across the state thus far.
Data centers house large servers used for running artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency “mining,” and cloud storage. The jump in cloud-based operating systems and storage has led to a surge in data center construction across the country.
Commissioner Laverne Coleman suggested a 120-day moratorium, but commissioners instead agreed to have a public hearing on the 90-day proposal.
“I want to be sure staff has plenty of time, so all our questions can be answered,” Coleman said after the meeting.
Storage facilities and AI centers typically use less water and power than crypto mines. Critics of the facilities say the centers put unnecessary strain on local power and water grids, in addition to developing farmland.
The county stands to see a windfall from equipment and property taxes from data centers if they are approved here.
