Title
Temporary Moratorium on New Telecommunications and Data Storage Facilities
Action
Action:
Adopt an ordinance to impose a 150-Day 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
Andrea Leslie-Fite, City Attorney
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 const...
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