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Black Mountain adopts data-center zoning rules, directs staff to draft moratorium language
Summary
After a public hearing, the council approved text amendments defining and limiting data processing centers with buffers, noise limits and signage rules, and asked staff to draft moratorium language while the state and region consider broader policy.
The Town of Black Mountain adopted text amendments to its Unified Development Ordinance to define and add standards for data processing centers (commonly called data centers) following a public hearing and discussion of protective zoning measures.
Planning staff and the planning board presented the draft amendment, which the planning board recommended unanimously. Staff said the town has only one parcel that could likely host a small data center and framed the amendments as a measured way to strengthen zoning protections without banning ancillary or small in-building data processing uses. Key elements discussed and included in the ordinance were a quarter-mile buffer from schools, places of worship and residences for permitted facilities in heavy industrial zones, night-time noise limits measured at the site boundary (planning recommended 50 decibels between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m.), and sign rules limiting signage to one sign per road frontage not to exceed 32 square feet with required emergency contact information. Council members and staff clarified that the definition would not restrict small ancillary data-processing rooms used in clinics or medical facilities.
Council also directed staff to draft moratorium language (suggested one year as a starting point) so the town can consider a temporary pause on new large data-center approvals while state and regional policy develops. Staff warned moratoria must follow statutory rules on reasonable duration and noticed findings, and the town attorney will review proposed language.
The ordinance motion passed with council support; members said the approach balances private-property rights, community noise and utility-consumption concerns while leaving staff and counsel to refine implementation details such as signage per street frontage and how to treat off-grid energy systems.
