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Data Center Moratorium and Rules

At a glance

  • What: council unanimously enacted a 12-month moratorium on data centers, data processing and cryptocurrency mining, effective April 28, 2026 through April 2027, per ABC11 and Indy Week.
  • Rules work: the Environmental Advisory Board's Data Center Subcommittee meets monthly (October topic: water consumption) to draft rules. A council hearing was set after the Planning Board denied an advisory-board amendment.
  • Latest (2026-10-15 EAB): a resident urged slowing the noise ordinance; a noise draft is on the town website but not official; the subcommittee has two EAB members and is recruiting.
  • Latest (2026-10-13 council): a resident, six months in, criticized the pace: no updated water projections, a tax white paper she called biased, EAB members' terms ending, and fewer public meetings; she urged extending the moratorium.
  • Next: subcommittee and board meetings; rules must be settled before the moratorium ends.

From the approved minutes (May 28, 2026)

During the hearing on the Environmental Advisory Board's role in rezonings, Osman said the EAB's recommendations on the data center were perceived by the community as approval of the data center, when they were environmental conditions the project would need, and urged public education about the EAB's role. Planning staff said more uses, possibly including data centers, could be defined as heavy industrial as the moratorium work and EAB recommendations proceed. See Environmental Advisory Board Rezoning Role and Heavy Industrial Zoning District.

Discussion time

About 11 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-15 - Environmental Advisory Board 8
2026-10-13 - Town Council Meeting 3

Log

  • 2026-11-04 - 2026-11-04 - Data Center Subcommittee Meeting: Fire and police briefings on emergency response, fire code gaps (NC enforces the 2015 fire code) and security; two resident call-in sessions in November, December break, next meeting January 13 to review efficiency standards and draft text.
  • 2026-10-15 - Environmental Advisory Board — Resident Bill Dean criticized subcommittee publicity, recording and public input and urged slowing a fast-tracked noise ordinance; staff invited more members to join the subcommittee; a member asked for ANSI standards funding.
  • 2026-10-13 - Town Council Meeting — Public forum: resident Michelle Hoffner O'Connor urged extending the moratorium and criticized the subcommittee's pace and public access.
  • 2026-10-21 - Page created from public town materials and news coverage (retrieved 2026-10-21); no meeting transcript processed yet.
  • 2026-10-07 - Data Center Subcommittee Meeting - Subcommittee reviewed the draft noise ordinance, noise health and wildlife material and a Prince William County noise study; see Data Center Noise Ordinance Draft. No vote.
  • 2026-09-22 - Town Council Meeting — Council Member Gray reported the subcommittee is fully staffed and noted a Chatham County judge invalidated that county's moratorium as applied to one applicant.
  • 2026-09-17 - Environmental Advisory Board — Two new members appointed to the subcommittee; a member raised continuity concerns as two members roll off in January.
  • 2026-09-08 - EAB Data Center Subcommittee — Two university experts briefed the subcommittee on on-site data center power and on air quality and health; members turned to zoning conditions since air permits are a state matter (from auto-captions); see Data Center Air Emissions and Health Impacts.
  • 2026-08-20 - Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Part I - Data center subcommittee minutes approved with a correction recording a member's question on sharing data center revenue with residents (from auto-captions).
  • 2026-08-11 - Town Council Meeting - Public forum: a resident asked why the data center subcommittee meetings are not livestreamed on YouTube and asked for recordings, transcripts and notices on the town homepage (from auto-captions).
  • 2026-05-28 - Town Council Meeting — Hearing comments linked the EAB data center vote to public confusion; staff said heavy industrial uses may be expanded as moratorium work proceeds.

From the video (October 27, 2026)

Several forum speakers opposed data-center development, raised water, air, noise and security concerns, asked for public progress reports at every Council meeting during the moratorium, and asked that data-center use-table cells be left blank. See 2026-10-27 - Town Council Meeting.

Sources