Another city in the Carolinas has enacted a pause on data center development.

The Raleigh City Council on Tuesday voted 7-1 to approve a six-month moratorium on data center applications while the council considers their impact and develops new regulations around their construction. 

The council will spend the first two months of the moratorium assessing the impacts of large data centers and the next 120 days seeking solutions, such as proposing city code amendments, according to an ordinance draft. The pause applies to proposed data centers that are 10K SF or larger and use more than 5 megawatts of electricity, CBS reported.

Council Member Christina Jones cast the lone vote against the moratorium, saying six months wasn’t long enough. During the hearing, many residents pushed for a 32-month pause, citing examples of other cities in North Carolina. 

“Six months is not enough,” Kris Anne Bonifacio, public information officer at North Carolina State Parks, said during the hearing. “By contrast, the town of Cary issued an 18-month moratorium in August. As the county seat and capital of our state, Raleigh should be leading the charge in taking actions that protect our communities.”

Raleigh joins hundreds of localities across the country that have responded to the growing backlash against digital infrastructure. Nationwide, there are 321 active moratoriums, according to Interconnect Capital’s tracker. Residents have pushed back over concerns related to water and power usage, electricity costs and potential community displacement. 

In North Carolina, most of Wake County has paused data center development, according to WUNC News. Durham County, Orange County, Chatham County and Harnett County also have active data center moratoriums. 

Raleigh’s moratorium comes two months after developer Beacon Partners pulled plans for a nearly 100K SF facility following local pushback. Last month, residents attended a city council meeting to protest the facilities and urge the council to pass the moratorium.

“We have a city of nearly half a million people, and there is still a massive knowledge gap about what data centers could mean for our communities,” Raleigh resident Zainab Baloch said during the Tuesday hearing.

There are about 122 data centers in North Carolina, according to the US Data Center Map. More than 80 are operational, eight are under construction, 21 are planned, three are paused, and six are inactive or historical. 

Raleigh’s moratorium is slated to expire in April.