Board of Commissioners — Special Meeting

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Commissioners heard from 19 speakers during the public hearing, then voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance imposing a twelve-month moratorium on new data center, data processing and cryptocurrency mining permits in unincorporated Chatham County. All five commissioners attended: Chair Amanda Robertson, Vice Chair Franklin Gomez Flores and Commissioners David Delaney, Karen Howard and Katie Kenlan.

After the vote, Commissioner Delaney said he would have preferred more discussion before the board acted. County Attorney Emily Meeker told him the board could not reconsider once it had voted, and Delaney then said for the record that his own vote had been in favor.

How the votes went

The motion to adopt the moratorium ordinance passed 5-0, with Commissioners Howard, Kenlan and Delaney, Vice Chair Gomez Flores and Chair Robertson all voting aye and no recorded nay. The later motion to adjourn carried by the same 5-0 roster.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

19 members of the public spoke.

1. Mary Roodkowsky, a property owner in the Farrington Village neighborhood, said data centers bring needed tax revenue but pose water, noise and energy risks, and she supported the moratorium.
2. Kirk Bradley, an economic development advocate and landowner, opposed the moratorium and asked commissioners to shorten it to six months if adopted.
3. Patrick E. Bradshaw, an attorney representing Echo TIP West LLC, argued the company's Triangle Innovation Point West site is exempt from any moratorium because of its prior permits and investment.
4. Boz Kaloyanov, a Highland Forest resident and software engineer, supported the moratorium and cited limited long-term job creation and noise near data centers.
5. James C. Garbutt, a resident, supported the moratorium as time to weigh the industrial impact of data centers on the county.
6. Michael Smith, president of the Chatham Economic Development Corporation, opposed the moratorium and cited the tax revenue a large data center could bring.
7. John Geib, founder of the utility consulting firm Kilowatt Collaborative, asked the board to set conditions on data centers rather than deciding for or against them outright.
8. Keith McLaurin, a nuclear engineer, supported the moratorium and asked the county to require battery backup power and matching clean-energy generation for future data centers.
9. Jane Mac Neela, a Highland Forest resident, supported the moratorium and cited Duke Energy's small share of renewable generation and rising electricity demand.
10. Sara Stephens, a Duke Energy district manager, asked to be included in future data center discussions and said large customers pay the full cost of their own service.
11. Phillip Thompson read into the record a statement from Kyle Shipp, a construction professional with data center experience, saying the moratorium was likely to pass and urging the county to move quickly once it takes effect.
12. Jessamine Hyatt, a Bynum resident, supported the moratorium and cited the county's water supply and rising utility bills.
13. Keely Puricz, a Sanford resident, asked the board to extend the moratorium to 24 months.
14. Mark Ashness, an engineer with LJ Engineering representing the TIP West project, opposed the moratorium and said the project's water use would be lower than the site's prior industrial tenant.
15. Susie Crate, a Bynum resident, supported at least a 12-month moratorium and raised water use and PFAS contamination concerns.
16. Diana Hales, a Siler City resident, supported the moratorium and cited statewide data center water and electricity use.
17. Kate O'Brien supported the moratorium and asked whether industrial-zoned land could instead be used for tourism or recreation.
18. Rosemary Sanozky-Dawes, a Fuquay-Varina resident active in opposition to the New Hill data center, supported the moratorium and cited PFAS discharges and tax-avoidance structures used by data center operators.
19. Nita Dukes, a Siler City resident, supported the moratorium and described past mandatory water restrictions in her area.

Nineteen people spoke during the hearing, most in support of the moratorium. A handful, including an attorney for a pending data center project and the head of the county's economic development group, argued against it or for a shorter term. The board also received eight written comments, all supporting the moratorium or opposing data center development generally.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.