A pause on new data center projects in Charlotte will be in effect for another 11 months after the city council voted to extend its moratorium that was set to expire in November.
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The extension, which the Charlotte City Council approved in a unanimous vote Monday evening, gives the city more time to develop policies and regulations around the build-out of the facilities. The pause is now slated to end no later than Oct. 18, 2027.
“In the next 11 months, we will have an opportunity to put guardrails in place to protect our residents, to protect our neighborhoods and to protect water and the electricity grid,” Council Member Dimple Ajmera said before the vote.
Council Member Kimberly Owens said she would rather see "smart regulations" than a moratorium, but said the city is restricted by its inability to downzone. Owen said she hopes that legislative changes will give the city that authority, and that it will then move with “deliberate speed" to "put some more parameters around data centers.”
Charlotte is one of several localities around the U.S. to add more time to their moratoriums as national pushback against the infrastructure continues. Charlotte’s initial 150-day moratorium, which began in June, would have ended on Nov. 5.
Local backlash intensified earlier this year after American Tower Corp. announced plans to build a 40K SF facility next to a nature preserve. Data center opponents have been filling city council meetings and hearings for months to voice their concerns, citing water usage, electricity costs and potential community displacement as key reasons for protest.
More than 90 data centers are operational across North Carolina, with around 40 of them in Charlotte, according to Data Center Map. More than 50 moratoriums are active in the state. Raleigh enacted a six-month pause earlier this month.
Some council members voiced their support for the extension at a public hearing earlier this month, with Council Member Ed Driggs saying the city is "starting from scratch, so we should give ourselves that time.”
Driggs said before the vote on Monday that if the council gets to a place where it is satisfied with what the new policy should be, "then we can end the moratorium and just do it."
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