Members of the Vance County Board of Commissioners and the Vance County Planning Board had a joint meeting Tuesday afternoon to continue discussions to refine a draft unified development ordinance, looking specifically at Section/Article 5 that talks about data centers.
Those present around the table were reminded that, currently, a data center is allowable – without. a special use permit – in the Light Industrial and in Office & Industrial zoning districts, and technically would be allowed in areas zoned Heavy Industrial Mining.
At a previous joint meeting of the two boards, Commissioner Dan Brummitt had suggested that the group consider first the Article 5 and then use that agreed-upon language to create a text amendment to the county’s present zoning rules.
He reiterated that point at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I guess at this point, we need to give some guidance to – which I think our board already did at our last meeting – (on how) we wanted to proceed with a text amendment. That was the direction that we had asked for.”
County Attorney Jonathan Care reminded the group of the process – the planning board has to review and then recommend – or not recommend – the UDO to commissioners for their consideration.
The planning board’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10 and the next commissioners’ meeting is Sept. 14.
Close to an hour into the meeting, Commissioners Board Chair Carolyn Faines asked Sheriff Curtis Brame to address the audience because numerous individuals were interrupting the meeting with comments calling for a moratorium.
A moratorium, while not off the table, is a popular idea with many residents who have spoken out over the past several months in opposition to data center development on property off U.S. Hwy 158.
But here’s where things get tricky.
Michael Harvey with NFocus, the group helping the county update the UDO, said the state’s December 2024 downzoning law makes it difficult for local governments to amend zoning regulations.
Any changes to the ordinance would not have any effect on existing or proposed applications for any development, data centers included.
And similarly, putting a moratorium in place for any period of time would not affect any current project; it would only give county leadership a certain length of time to study the issue and have Vance County more prepared for future data center proposals.
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