The Vance County Board of Commissioners agreed by consensus Monday to start the process of putting in place a 60-day moratorium as it relates to the possibility of a proposed data center.
During the special called meeting Monday afternoon, County Attorney Jonathan Care walked commissioners through a series of legal steps the board must consider, which includes how a required legislative hearing to hear public comment must be advertised.
A moratorium of less than 60 days requires a minimum 7-day notice to the public before a legislative hearing can take place; a moratorium longer than 60 days is treated like a proposed ordinance and must be published twice at particular intervals before the hearing takes place.
The plan is to have the legislative hearing at the board’s regular September meeting, with additional discussion on Aug. 25 when the planning board and commissioners will have their next joint work session on the UDO.
The meeting, lasted about 40 minutes, began with Care’s review of numerous statutes and regulations for commissioners to keep in mind as they consider the ongoing data center debate.
By law, Care said, the commissioner must clearly identify four specific areas to satisfy the requirements necessary to put a moratorium in place, including a statement of the problems and conditions, the development approvals that would be subject to the moratorium, a date for termination of the moratorium and a statement of actions and schedule of actions that the county will undertake during the moratorium.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt said he would support a 60-day moratorium, a comment that was met with vocal disapproval from residents in attendance.
Commissioners Leo Kelly and Valencia Perry each stated that 60 days wasn’t long enough.
Perry said, “It’s only fair that the community have the ability to voice their opinions.” Before making a “decision of this magnitude,” she added, she’d like commissioners to have as much information as possible so that they can make the right decision.
Brummitt recalled the recent joint planning board meeting with commissioners to discuss the unified development ordinance. At that meeting, he proposed that the group start their discussions with the section dealing with data centers with the goal of making a text amendment that could be put in place more quickly than the UDO.
“I believe that right now, we are vulnerable to with our current ordinance,” Brummitt said. He said he would support a moratorium “as long as we proceed with the text amendment. The moratorium that I would recommend would be a 60-day moratorium.”
Kelly said although he favors a 6-month moratorium, he’s willing to come to the table to discuss it.
Commissioner Tommy Hester asked whether the moratorium could be extended if the county determined it needed more time, and Care said the county would not be prohibited from extending it.
Hester suggested that the county start with a 60-day moratorium first and extend it if the process will require more time to complete.
It was unclear which commissioners expressed agreement with the 60-day moratorium since no vote was taken.
