The Durham Board of County Commissioners passed a nine-month data center moratorium in a 4-1 vote Monday evening. The measure prohibits accepting, processing and approving development of new data centers in the county, with an exception for some under 100,000 square feet. Most “hyperscale” data centers, frequently built by companies such as Google and Meta, will not fall under this exemption.
The moratorium, which will be in effect until May 2027, seeks to allow county staff time to research the potential impacts of data centers and participate in community engagement around the issue. The timeline pairs with a similar data center moratorium passed by the City of Durham in June.
Research into potential regulations has already begun, said Sara Young, director of the Durham city-county planning department, with plans to consider a variety of data centers’ technical and environmental impacts. Young expects a draft of regulations to be ready for presentation at the December meeting of the joint city-county planning committee…