RALEIGH – Raleigh has adopted a six-month moratorium on applications and development approvals for major data centers while the city writes permanent rules for the facilities.
City Council approved the moratorium 7-1 on Oct. 6, according to Axios. The city updated its official notice after the vote to confirm that the temporary pause passed.
The moratorium stops the city’s acceptance and review of applications for major data-center development approvals, including the special-use permits required for those larger facilities. Raleigh classifies data centers of 10,000 square feet or less with low peak electrical demand and water use as minor utilities; major facilities may locate only in Industrial Mixed Use or Heavy Industrial districts after receiving a special-use permit.
Raleigh says it currently has several smaller data centers but no hyperscale facilities. The action therefore governs prospective development approvals rather than closing existing hyperscale operations in the city, and neither cited source identifies a specific pending project that the moratorium blocks.
City staff will use the pause to draft regulations addressing the effects of large data centers on surrounding properties and municipal resources. Axios reported that council members cited noise, water use, air pollution and light pollution among the issues to be considered.
The city says current North Carolina law does not allow Raleigh’s development ordinance to ban data centers outright. Axios reported that city attorneys expect the rule-writing process to require careful treatment of a 2024 state law that restricts downzoning.
The city’s schedule calls for draft text amendments to be posted for public comment Nov. 16, followed by Planning Commission review in December and January. City Council is scheduled to open a public hearing March 2 and take final action April 6, when the moratorium is due to end unless replacement rules take effect sooner.
The Oct. 6 adoption is a later milestone than council’s Sept. 15 direction to the city attorney to prepare a moratorium ordinance. The documented business consequence now is an enacted, temporary pause on Raleigh’s approval pipeline for major data-center development.