RALEIGH – The Raleigh City Council approved a six-month moratorium on new data center development applications Tuesday night, pausing the city’s review of those projects while officials write permanent development rules.
The city confirmed the Oct. 6 approval in an official notice updated after the meeting. Axios Raleigh reported that the council voted 7-1, with Council member Christina Jones casting the only opposing vote because she wanted a longer pause. The moratorium is scheduled to expire April 6, 2027.
Raleigh’s current rules classify facilities of 10,000 square feet or less with low peak electrical demand and water use as minor utility data centers. Larger facilities are treated as major utilities, may locate only in industrial zoning districts and must receive a special use permit from the Board of Adjustment. The city says it does not currently have a hyperscale data center.
During the moratorium, Raleigh will stop accepting and reviewing covered development applications while staff study potential effects on neighboring properties and city resources. Officials have identified noise, water use, air pollution and light pollution as issues for the review. The city says North Carolina law prevents it from broadly banning data centers through downzoning, so any permanent rules must focus on the facilities’ distinct impacts.
The vote adds Raleigh to a growing list of North Carolina communities that have temporarily halted data center approvals. Axios reported that Cary adopted an 18-month pause, Orange County and Apex approved one-year moratoriums, and Durham’s city and county governments each chose nine months. Raleigh residents had sought a 32-month pause.
City staff plan to release draft Unified Development Ordinance amendments for public comment Nov. 16. The Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the proposals Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, followed by a report to the council Feb. 2. The council plans to open a public hearing March 2 and take final action April 6, when the temporary moratorium ends.
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Photo Credit: Derrick Coetzee via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 (file photo of NERSC server racks).
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.