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Swain County moratorium committee urges targeted ordinances as data-center research continues
Summary
A volunteer moratorium committee told commissioners it will deliver recommendations by Nov. 20 and urged the county to pursue targeted restrictive ordinances on noise, water withdrawals and light rather than countywide zoning, citing legal exposure and resource impacts from proposed data centers and AI facilities.
A volunteer moratorium committee on Tuesday urged the Swain County Board of Commissioners to pursue multiple targeted ordinances — on water withdrawals, noise, light and other site impacts — instead of adopting countywide zoning to address concerns about data centers and other "high impact" facilities.
"We need some guidance on what you actually want from us, lowly civilians working for free to put this together for the county," the committee member said, asking the board whether it wants a unified development ordinance (zoning) or a "shotgun blast" of restrictive ordinances drafted under the county's general policing authority.
The committee set an internal target to deliver recommendations and suggested language to the board by Nov. 20 so commissioners would have five months to review them before the moratorium expires, the member said. The group described ongoing research into water usage, land valuation, noise, light, vibration and other impacts and said it has reached out to state and academic experts and regulators including the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
The committee described the Marble-area data center conversion from cryptocurrency mining to AI compute as a case study: it reported the facility drilled three on-site wells, trucks out wastewater because the local landfill would not accept it, and demands for power and water are substantially higher for AI processing than for the site's prior use. "Anytime you have high-capacity withdrawals from groundwater, absolutely. That affects the underground water table," the committee member said.
Committee members warned that an outright county ban would raise legal risk unless the county first puts a full zoning framework in place; instead they recommended drafting narrower performance- and impact-based restrictions that regulate noise levels, prohibit upward-facing industrial lighting, limit water withdrawals at property boundaries and set other measurable standards. "We're going shotgun blast," the committee member said, describing a plan to draft multiple restrictive ordinances focused on specific impacts.
Commissioners debated the trade-offs. Some said they remain philosophically opposed to zoning and prefer narrower restrictions; others asked for more detail about local water, wastewater and power capacity before making policy choices. The committee said it will pursue DEQ participation and legal review and return with draft definitions — including a proposed definition for "high impact facility" — and policy language for the board to consider.
Next steps: the moratorium committee will continue research, schedule Q&A sessions with DEQ and other experts, and deliver draft recommendations to the board by the Nov. 20 target date, the committee member said.
