CHARLOTTE – Planning Director Monica Holmes told the Charlotte City Council on April 13 that it may be three to six months before staff brings them recommendations for regulating data centers.
Members of the council expressed concerns about the environmental impacts data centers can have on a community, especially if they are located close to residential areas.
The issue came up as the council was discussing community area plans. The council approved seven area plans in November and deferred the rest until March, giving staff time to collect more feedback from residents. The council not only adopted the remaining seven area plans but revised the ones already approved to reflect the feedback. One of the changes addressed community concerns about data centers.
The recommendation reads: “To ensure new development trends are compatible with existing neighborhoods, the city should establish guidance for new and emerging land uses, such as data centers, to ensure appropriate location and design.”
Council Member Dimple Ajmera said a concern that constantly comes up at every meeting is the need for infrastructure to keep up with growth. She identified data centers as a new pressure, especially near nature preserves and residential areas.
“I’ve heard concerns around energy, water usage, quality of life, and these are some valid issues,” Ajmera said. “We need to be proactive, not reactive, when it comes to these types of developments, because there is one coming in front of us pretty soon.”
Ajmera asked about the timeline in developing regulations outlined in the area plans, specifically around data centers. Holmes replied that staff has already been researching data centers.
“We’ve attended several meetings with other cities – top 30 cities – to really understand what other cities are doing, how they’re impacted,” Holmes said. “We’ll be ready to start that work as soon as we close out this work and start bringing before you, with your referral and support, kind of what the next steps are, what does that look like and what are the things we can do within state statute.”
When pressed further by Ajmera for a timeline, Holmes said three to six months for solid recommendations. She added that “the state landscape” is important to the city’s work.
Ajmera encouraged Holmes to explore the possibility of putting a pause on data center proposals until the city approves regulations.
“Because what we are seeing right now is data centers coming so close to residential neighborhoods,” she said. “We are hearing loud and clear from the community.”
Holmes replied that she would need to consult with the city attorney’s office.
“We don’t know the impact of them right now, but we are seeing cases coming from Oregon and from other places that have demonstrated awful health and environmental impacts,” District 5 Council Member JD Arias said. “If you have one near a residential neighborhood, that is very concerning.”
Arias questioned the economic development aspect of such centers when they employ a handful of people.
District 6 Council Member Kimberly Owens encouraged her colleagues to have an open mind when it comes to data centers. She mentioned the importance of helping young people as they enter an economy disrupted by AI.
“I’m not saying that they should be located near homes,” Owens said. “I am encouraging us to be creative in how we inspire them to build in a manner that is reusing water or being thoughtful about solar panels on their roofs or all the myriad things that they may be able to do to offset some of the costs of the environmental concerns that we’ve all expressed.”
Owens cautioned colleagues that putting a moratorium on data centers creates the risk of these types of uses going overseas, putting American data in foreign countries.
Arias framed the discussion to acknowledge the security concerns brought up by Owens without dismissing Ajmera’s worries about data centers going near nature preserves and residential areas.
“Data centers are booming, so we just have to make sure that we’re smart and creative about the solution we’re providing to our constituents, but also to the security of our data,” he said.
