Harnett County Imposes Moratorium On Data Centers

By Emily Weaver
Daily Record of Dunn

HARNETT COUNTY, N.C. – The Harnett County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to enact a one-year moratorium on data centers in unincorporated areas of the county after an hour-and-a-half long public hearing at its meeting Monday morning. Dozens of residents spoke in the hearing, but none of them spoke against the plan to halt data centers long enough to give the county time to study the booming industry and the fears of water and energy supply shortages that come with it.

The moratorium went into effect Monday morning. “Unless otherwise rescinded or extended,” it is set to expire on May 3, 2027.

“A data center is a secure, specialized, physical facility that houses network computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure necessary for modern digital operations, cloud services and AI training,” County Manager Brent Trout told the board at the start of the public hearing. “Current conditions in our UDO do not allow data centers to occur by right, nor does it prevent them from occurring. We do not have a request, but if we had received a request today to place a data center in the unincorporated area of the county, we would require the project to go through a conditional zoning process that the board approved in order for their zoning to be approved.

“… Data centers use a large amount of electricity, a large amount of water,” Trout continued. “Their discharges are difficult-to-treat wastewater. Data centers are noisy. Data centers do not employ very many people compared to manufacturing facilities, and data centers are unsightly. Usually the most common related benefits to data centers are increased property tax receipts and creation of some modest-paying jobs. A few high-paying jobs depends on the data center in question.”

New technology through “looped water systems” has reduced water usage and potential water treatment issues with data centers, he added, and incentives aren’t offered to these types of industries like they were 15-20 years ago. But the industry is growing at a rapid pace with the dawn of AI and cryptocurrency.

A moratorium will give the county time to study the industry and create a new section of the county’s Unified Development Ordinance “that addresses the impact of such uses and ensures compatibility with the county’s land use plan,” Trout said.

The county’s planning staff had not received any applications for a data center as of Monday morning, according to Trout.

But at least one developer was earnestly considering the county for a new data center as of last week, according to Sen. Jim Burgin.

“A pause is not opposition, it’s responsible leadership,” Harnett County resident Joe Langley told the board during the hearing. “It gives this board time to gather facts, hear from experts, and ensure that any decision made is in the best long-term interest of the community. … Because once these decisions are made, they are difficult, if not impossible, to undo.”