Mecklenburg supervisors approve rezones for data-center expansion, back broadband grant applications and move $6.5M school construction aid into school control

The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved multiple rezoning and permitting requests to allow data-center expansion near Clarksville, voted to send letters of support for two broadband grant applications, and adopted a budget amendment to transfer a $6.5 million state school-construction award from a county fund to the school division.

The board approved several applications from Burlington Industrial Properties to rezone parcels from Business B-1 to Industrial M-1 to allow construction of data centers after a presentation by a developer representative identified in the meeting as Melissa, who said the company pursues adaptive reuse of industrial buildings for data halls. "We would be able to start construction and have this be constructed in parallel, but we can't fill our halls, with tenant needs without the power," Melissa said, describing a phased buildout that would require additional transmission capacity for later phases.

The rezoning approvals came after extended discussion about how the new power would be delivered. A Dominion Energy representative described the regulatory path for new transmission: routes and final design would be set by the utility and reviewed in a formal public process before the State Corporation Commission (SCC). The representative said local governments and the public would have opportunities to comment during route selection and that the utility could…