By Nicole Bowman-Layton

EDENTON — With residents filling the council chambers and an overflow room, the Edenton Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Nov. 10, to impose a 60-day moratorium on certain data center development approvals, although council members said they would likely need much longer to examine the issue.

About 40 additional people attended through Zoom. Councilman Samuel Dixon was absent.

The moratorium, which runs through Jan. 10, 2027, gives town officials time to study the potential effects of data centers on local utilities, neighboring properties and public services.

Several council members favored extending the restrictions for as long as a year, while residents with backgrounds in technology and finance offered to help the town develop regulations.

“We’ve got to do it right,” one council member said during the discussion.

The vote followed an Oct. 26 meeting at which council members declined to adopt proposed data center regulations because they wanted more time to study them.

Residents call for financial protections

Joe Angelucci, a resident who said he spent 25 years working in global banking and financial services, supported the moratorium but argued that 60 days would not be enough to develop comprehensive regulations.

“Sixty days is simply too short to draft airtight, technically complex ordinances and coordinate a joint interlocal agreement,” Angelucci said.

He urged the town to align its restrictions with Chowan County, where commissioners are considering a one-year moratorium.

“Data centers do not respect municipal boundaries,” he said, warning that developers could move just outside town limits to avoid stricter requirements.

Angelucci also urged officials to require disclosure of a data center’s electricity demands, daily water consumption and cooling chemicals rather than allow such information to be withheld through nondisclosure agreements.

“Public resources require public records and public notice,” he said.

He recommended requiring community benefit agreements that would commit developers to investments such as school technology programs, utility improvements or emergency response funding.

“If they use our resources, they must directly compensate our community,” Angelucci said.

He also called for financial guarantees to cover the removal of abandoned facilities, including a demolition bond worth 125% of the anticipated removal cost, and plans for disposing of electronic waste.

Technology experts raise environmental questions

Erin Lambert, who described roughly 30 years of experience in technology sourcing and data center development, urged officials to investigate the potential effects of cooling systems and chemical use.

She questioned whether a future facility would draw large amounts of freshwater, use a closed-loop cooling system or create risks for nearby agricultural land.

“What are the effects on agriculture going to be?” Lambert asked. “Are we going to be able to mitigate that?”

Lambert said the town should establish a joint task force with Chowan County that includes elected officials, residents and people with technology and environmental expertise.

She cautioned against making decisions based on fear or assumptions.

“Let’s get the facts out there,” Lambert said. “There’s a lot of issues with them, but are they all real for us? We don’t know until we actually dig in.”

Ed Stiver, who said he has about 40 years of experience in information technology, warned about the financial risks of unfinished or abandoned data center projects.

He pointed to the collapse of the dot-com boom in the early 2000s, saying some communities were left with partially completed buildings or vacant facilities that required costly redevelopment.

“I have seen fractional buildings built out and empty data centers,” Stiver said, adding that communities sometimes had to bear the expense of finding new uses for those properties.

“We want to make sure that we have security bonds, and ways out of any of these investments that don’t complete or they go bankrupt, that we have a way to protect ourselves,” he said.

Stiver also raised concerns about cooling water, hazardous waste and the constant noise that could come from chillers, generators and other equipment.

He questioned whether the area’s existing electrical and natural gas infrastructure could support a large data center without additional on-site power generation.

Stiver offered to help town officials evaluate the technical issues.

Town questioned about earlier inquiry

Resident Hal Murray also questioned whether 60 days would be sufficient.

“It has many facets, and 60 days just isn’t enough,” Murray said.

He then asked whether a data center developer had approached the town.

Mayor W. Hackney High Jr. said officials had not received an application, while Town Manager Corey Gooden characterized what the town had received as “nothing substantial.”

Murray and others pressed for clarification.

Gooden explained that there was a difference between a serious development inquiry involving due diligence and a broadly distributed solicitation.

“If we receive one blanket filler reach-out that’s after 2,000 communities, have we really received anything?” Gooden asked.

Murray responded that he considered the answer to his question to be yes.

County commissioner urges cooperation

Chowan County Commissioner Larry McLaughlin, who lives in Edenton’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, urged town officials to coordinate their regulations with the county.

McLaughlin said county commissioners will consider a proposed one-year moratorium at a public hearing Nov. 23.

“The town and the county need to have a uniform set of ordinances, all on the same page,” McLaughlin said.

He said consistent regulations would prevent developers from choosing between town and county locations based on differences in the rules.

“If they’re all the same, then the whole county is covered,” he said.

McLaughlin also welcomed the expertise offered by residents.

“A lot of the things that Joe and Ed spoke of are things that need to be addressed,” he said, specifically mentioning requirements for removing facilities after they cease operating.

He encouraged those who spoke at the town hearing to attend the county commissioners’ meeting.

Council members want more time

Assistant Town Manager and Planner Dewayne Whealton told council members that the moratorium would allow staff to examine electricity capacity, water and wastewater availability, noise, emergency services, fire protection and the effects on neighboring properties.

“The intent is not to prohibit a data center permanently, but to ensure proper regulations are established before additional development approvals are issued,” Whealton said.

He acknowledged that the technical issues would require outside expertise.

“These things are not my thing,” Whealton said, explaining that he was relying on other communities and people familiar with data centers to help determine appropriate standards.

Council members welcomed the residents’ offers of assistance.

One council member said the speakers had demonstrated considerable knowledge and could become valuable resources for the town. The member suggested establishing a commission or other group to help develop regulations.

High said the town could begin working with residents informally while considering whether to create a more formal advisory group.

After closing the public hearing, High encouraged those who spoke to contact Whealton.

“I have found Dwayne to be a sponge,” High said, referring to his willingness to learn from others. He urged residents to work closely with the planner during the review.

Council members also questioned whether the initial moratorium would provide enough time.

“I do think 60 days is an insufficient time to do anything with this data center,” Craig Miller said, expressing support for the county’s proposed one-year moratorium and uniform regulations.

The 60-day period was chosen because of public notice requirements. Gooden explained that a moratorium of 60 days or less required seven days’ notice, while a longer restriction would have required at least two weeks.

High said the council wanted temporary restrictions in place immediately rather than risk receiving a development application before it could act.

“We’re not aware of any pending application, but we didn’t want someone to come in and submit an application without some moratorium in place,” High said.

The mayor said he would support extending the moratorium if the council had not completed its review.

“I would vote to extend it up to a year period of time because we need that amount of time to look at it and make sure we get it right,” High said, explaining how he would vote if a tie required him to cast the deciding vote.

Town and county to share information

Gooden said he had already spoken with the Chowan County manager and planned to share a recap of the hearing, proposed regulations and research gathered from other communities.

“We plan to provide them a full recap of this meeting’s public comment,” Gooden said.

He said follow-up discussions with county officials were planned for later in the week, ahead of the county’s Nov. 23 hearing.

The council then voted unanimously among members present to approve the moratorium through Jan. 10.

The restrictions apply to specified development approvals for new data centers and substantial expansions of existing facilities within Edenton’s corporate limits and extraterritorial planning jurisdiction. Other types of development may continue, and the ordinance preserves applicable statutory exemptions and previously established development rights.

Council members expect to revisit the issue at their first meeting in January, when they could consider extending the moratorium.

Chowan County commissioners will hold their public hearing on the proposed one-year moratorium at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Chowan County Public Safety Center, 305 W. Freemason St., in Edenton.

Editor’s note: This article covers the Edenton Town Council’s discussion and vote on the data center moratorium. Additional Albemarle Observer stories will cover other actions and public comments from the Nov. 10 meeting, including the council’s censure of Councilman Aaron Coston and updates on development projects.