SOUTHPORT, N.C. (WECT) – Southport’s Planning Board will vote Thursday on whether to allow data centers in the city for the first time, under a proposed set of rules that would impose some of the most detailed environmental and operational requirements in the region.
The board meets July 16 to consider the zoning text amendment. Planning Services Director Maureen Meehan is recommending approval. The board’s decision goes to the Board of Aldermen.
Data centers would not be permitted outright, based on currently available agenda items. Under the proposal, they could be built only in the Highway Commercial zoning district and only through a conditional rezoning process, meaning each project would require individual city approval…