Title
Set a Public Hearing on an Extension of the Temporary Moratorium on New Telecommunications and Data Storage Facilities
Action
Action:
Set a public hearing for October 12, 2026, on an extension of the 150-day temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, and approval of applications for new telecommunications and data storage facilities within the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, and its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, pursuant to NC General Statute 160D-107.
Body
Staff Resource(s):
Alyson Craig, City Manager’s Office
Heather Bolick, Special Initiatives
Terrie Hagler-Gray, City Attorney’s Office
Explanation
§ The Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) defines a data center as a “telecommunications and data storage facility, accessed only by employees, that houses computer systems and associated components, related to the transmittal and receiving of information, including but not limited to, telecommunications systems, telecommunication and telephone switching systems, cloud storage systems, and server farms.”
§ Per the UDO, telecommunications and data storage facilities (data centers) are permitted uses by right in the following zoning districts:
- General Commercial (CG),
- Regional Commercial (CR),
- Office Flex Campus (OFC),
- Research Campus (RC),
- Manufacturing & Logistics (ML-1 and ML-2),
- Innovation Mixed Use (IMU), and
- Uptown Core (UC).
§ Currently all data centers, regardless of size, type, or capacity, are treated the same under the UDO.
§ Data centers are subject to applicable zoning and general development standards (setbacks, height, transparency, landscape yards, screening, exterior lighting, etc.) but have no additional prescribed conditions.
§ At the April 27, 2026, Business Meeting, City Council directed staff to provide information on the status of data centers in Charlotte.
§ On May 11, 2026, city staff shared the following with City Council:
- The existing data center inventory in Charlotte;
- Environmental impacts of data centers (water usage, energy consumption, noise);
- Jobs and economic development considerations; and
- Legal constraints with modifying certain land use requirements in the UDO due to Session Law 2024-57 (SB 382) which limits the ability of local governments to down-zone property without the written consents of all affected property owners.
§ At the May 11, 2026, Council Business Meeting, City Council adopted the following recommendations made by staff:
- Conduct a public hearing on May 26, 2026, to consider the adoption of a 150-day temporary moratorium on data centers to begin on June 8, 2026; and
- Refer the issue of data centers to the Transportation, Planning, and Development Committee on June 1.
§ On May 26, 2026, City Council held a properly noticed legislative public hearing on the proposed moratorium in accordance with NC General Statute Section 160D-601(b).
§ The purpose of the temporary moratorium is to allow the city to analyze and study the unique development, infrastructure, and environmental impacts of data centers and prepare and consider appropriate regulatory and policy changes to address those impacts. These considerations include, but are not limited to, impacts on water consumption, energy demand, noise, and land-use compatibility.
§ The city has assembled a multi-disciplinary team of city staff with expertise across city departments to study and explore the impacts of data centers and create a unified strategy to address concerns during the proposed moratorium period.
§ On June 1, 2026, staff presented to the Transportation, Planning, and Development Committee on what would occur during a 150-day moratorium on data center approvals.
§ City Council has considered and addressed the following statements required to adopt a temporary moratorium in accordance with NC General Statute Section 160D-107(d):
- A statement of the problems or conditions necessitating the moratorium and what courses of action, alternative to a moratorium, were considered by the local government and why those alternative courses of action were not deemed adequate;
- A statement of the development approvals subject to the moratorium and how a moratorium on those approvals will address the problems or conditions leading to imposition of the moratorium;
- A date for termination of the moratorium and a statement setting forth why that duration is reasonably necessary to address the problems or conditions leading to imposition of the moratorium; and
- A statement of the actions, and the schedule for those actions, proposed to be taken by the local government during the duration of the moratorium to address the problems or conditions leading to imposition of the moratorium.
§ On June 8, 2026, City Council adopted a 150-day moratorium on the acceptance, processing, and approval of applications for new telecommunications and data storage facilities in the City of Charlotte and its extraterritorial jurisdiction, which will expire no later than November 5, 2026, or upon city Council approval of new regulations and/or policies regarding data centers, whichever occurs first.
§ The Transportation, Planning, and Development (TPD) Committee discussed data centers research and next steps at the August 3, 2026, Committee meeting.
§ At the September 8, 2026, TPD Committee meeting, the Committee discussed a potential extension of the temporary moratorium, and the Committee voted unanimously by members present (Driggs, Johnson, and Mayfield) to recommend extension of the temporary moratorium for consideration by full Council.
§ At the September 14, 2026, Council Business Meeting, Council received an overview of the extension of the temporary moratorium recommended by the TPD Committee.
§ Per state law, an extension requires a showing of good-faith efforts toward the goals of the original moratorium and new facts and conditions warranting the extension.
§ The city has made good faith efforts in achieving the goals of the moratorium including:
- Engaging with World Resources Institute who produced a Data Centers Impacts Report compiling national research and cross-jurisdictional examples to help Charlotte evaluate how best to manage these impacts within North Carolina's statutory environment;
- Convened a 19-member Data Center Community Task Force including technical experts and community leaders who gave preliminary recommendations to Council; and
- Launched a comprehensive community engagement plan including an education campaign, community survey, and both in-person and virtual community meetings.
§ New facts and conditions warrant an extension of the moratorium including:
- Recent research conducted by World Resources Institute which shows that data center impacts are not uniform and quite complex; and
- Staff and task force members acknowledged that Charlotte lacks specific regulatory tools-like capacity verification, monitoring protocols, and cooling standards-and needs technical research to support them.
§ City Council recognizes that certain property and/or projects are exempt from this moratorium under NC General Statute Section 160D-107(c) and acknowledges that the city cannot enforce this moratorium as to exempt property and/or projects.
Attachments
Attachment(s)
September 8 Presentation