Data Centers and Zoning in North Carolina

North Carolina communities are grappling with how to respond to the new wave of data center development. North Carolina communities have long been home to data centers: suburban office parks and university campuses have mid-sized data centers, and several North Carolina communities have larger-scale data centers from tech companies like Apple, Google, and Meta. But the increasing demands for online streaming, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are driving investments in more and bigger data centers across the country and across North Carolina.   

So, what’s a local government to do? What CAN a local government do? This session will explore important questions about zoning and data centers. School of Government faculty members Jim Joyce and Adam Lovelady we explore questions, including:

• How are data centers handled under the current ordinance? (“Eek! Our local ordinance doesn’t have any definition or standards for data centers!”)
• Can a North Carolina local government adopt amoratorium? (“Seems like everyone is!”)
• To what extent can a North Carolina local government adopt new regulations for data centers? (“What about the limits on down-zoning!?!”)  
• What types of regulations may be imposed on data centers? (“What topics can be covered by zoning?”)

 Please note: While data centers raise a range of technical, legal, and policy considerations for communities, this workshop will focus on North Carolina local government authority for zoning and other land use regulations for data centers.