Charlotte sets hearing for 150-day pause on data center developments
The Charlotte City Council took its first step toward a 150-day data center moratorium on Monday after Mayor Vi Lyles blocked a similar attempt last month.
The council unanimously agreed to hold a public hearing on the issue May 26, which is a prerequisite for a formal moratorium vote expected to come June 8.
If passed, a moratorium would give Charlotte time to consider how it could revise its policies to place guardrails around future data center developments without running afoul of state law. New development proposals would not be allowed during that time.
“We have to take a look at what we as council members can do for this,” said Renee Perkins Johnson, District 4 council member. “We need to halt until we know there’s no harm to residents.”
The City Council will consider a five-month moratorium that would stretch well into the fall, and could extend the moratorium as needed from there.
Data centers are currently allowed by right in eight different zoning districts without city approval, including in residential areas. Those developments will continue being allowed until a temporary moratorium takes effect.
Charlotte already has more than a dozen existing data centers, mostly small-scale operations.
Others have been proposed or approved but aren’t yet up and running. All of those fall within 500 feet of homes, according to Deputy City Manager Alyson Craig.
A moratorium would only apply to future developments, not those that have already been approved or proposed, said Assistant City Attorney Terrie Hagler-Gray.
“When it comes to growth … we are leading. But when it comes to protecting our community, protecting our neighborhoods and protecting our health, we are being reactive,” said at-large City Council member Dimple Ajmera, who introduced the motion for a public hearing. “I would really like us to be proactive in protecting our community and our health and our neighborhoods.”
Duke Energy, which is looking at potential data center developments, was invited to Monday’s discussion but did not attend.
How will a data center moratorium work?
Municipalities are limited in how they can restrict data center operations, but the extent of those restrictions isn’t entirely clear. That’s what the city would need to sort out during the proposed five-month moratorium.
In 2024, North Carolina passed Senate Bill 382, which restricts municipalities’ ability to “downzone.” Downzoning is the practice of reducing the density or number of uses of a property without written permission from affected property owners. The bill also broadened the definition of downzoning to include any policy that creates “nonconformity” in nonresidential areas, The Raleigh News & Observer previously reported.
Charlotte would join a growing list of other municipalities that have temporarily paused data center developments. But Charlotte’s situation is more complicated, Craig said, because the city already has a definition for data centers and regulations on the books, unlike the other municipalities. That brings greater legal risk under the state’s restrictive downzoning law.
Changing data center regulations could be perceived as downzoning, she said. A pause would give staff time to figure this out.
“We have to make sure that we understand what we as a city can do,” Craig said.
What council is saying
Several City Council members were frustrated that it took so long for staff to create guardrails for data centers. Councilwoman LaWana Slack-Mayfield first raised the issue in 2023, Perkins Johnson renewed the discussion last year and District 5 City Council member JD Mazuera Arias approached the city attorney about data centers as soon as he was elected.
The city still doesn’t have comprehensive recommendations on data center regulations.
“I would like to see us move quicker … Imagine where we could be right now with having a better understanding if we did not just kick it down the road back then,” Slack-Mayfield said. “Being a little bit more nimble to address the concerns of the community versus being so proactive to give business whatever they want I think would be to the benefit of us.”
Moving forward, the council wants staff to consider expanding its definition of data centers to account for the variance between facilities. Small-scale facilities like the ones that have been operating in Charlotte for years use a much smaller amount of water and electricity than large hyperscale facilities. Two of those hyperscale facilities have been approved since 2023 and are in development. A third is in the permitting process now.
Driggs and Johnson asked staff for clarity on what sort of policies the city can change under state law that would regulate data centers after they’ve already been approved.
Mazuera Arias asked staff to do more research on the environmental drawbacks and health impacts.
“As a governing body, we will always have legal risks,” Mazuera Arias said. “Legal risks should not take precedence over human risk.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 10:15 PM.
