Cary’s elected leaders spent late Thursday night wrestling with a big question: should the town temporarily stop approving new data center projects while it figures out what they mean for local water, power bills and land use?
The debate ran well past 11 p.m. as council members weighed how a pause might reshape Cary’s courtship of large tech facilities that power AI and cloud services. The length of any potential timeout is still undecided.
Council turns eye toward Jordan Lake
Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush argued that a moratorium would give staff room to study how data centers affect drinking water and the electrical grid, with a special focus on Jordan Lake. According to WRAL, Bush noted that roughly “770,000 people rely on Jordan Lake for water” and reminded colleagues that the lake is a shared, finite resource.
The council still has to decide whether to formally direct staff to draft the pause and, if so, how long it would last.
Triangle governments are already pausing projects
Cary is not debating this in a vacuum. Across the Triangle, counties and towns are already tapping the brakes on new data center construction while they sort out potential impacts on water, roads and nearby neighborhoods…