Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Data Centers Moratorium topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Greenwood County council reads one-year moratorium on data centers after residents urge pause
Summary
After a public comment session dominated by concerns about water, noise and changing project scopes, Greenwood County Council read Ordinance 20 26 25 — a proposed one-year moratorium on data centers — in title only and said it will use the pause for further study and ordinance review.
Vice Chairman Diane Pruitt told the Greenwood County Council she supports a 12-month moratorium "to do a deeper dive study on data centers," citing concerns about how the Rural Development District (RDD) could allow data centers on many county parcels and suggesting the county consider a single zone for such facilities. Pruitt introduced the moratorium language on behalf of members who drafted the ordinance.
The council then heard nine public comments nearly all urging a moratorium or stronger protections. Resident Tracy Rickey linked the local trend in data-center construction to bitcoin mining and told the council that developers "are taking all of our resources, our water. They're taking our electricity, and they're making millions of dollars and not putting it back to the communities." Debbie Turner, another Hodges-area speaker, said data centers present "unprecedented environmental and health threats," questioned the adequacy of proposed 200-foot setbacks and decibel studies, and urged the council to "close the door" to development until the community can review independent data.
Other residents cited lessons from nearby jurisdictions. Walter Kimball, who identified himself by name and address, said the moratorium "gives us time to ... let the dust settle" and urged the county to examine power and water impacts. Kelly Eberhardt and Dave Scofield pointed to Spartanburg and Loudoun County experiences where proposed projects expanded their power and water requests over time; Ross Fitzgerald asked the council to act before any July construction launch.
Chairman Lane closed public comment and read Ordinance 20 26 25 into the record as first reading, title only: "imposing a temporary moratorium on the approval of data centers and related infrastructure within Greenwood County for a period of one year." Chair Lane noted the ordinance was proposed by Councilman Allison, Councilwoman Miller and Vice Chairman Pruitt; because this was first reading in title only, no vote on adoption was taken.
Why it matters: residents and multiple staff speakers told the council they lack time and independent data to fully evaluate long-term impacts on water, noise, energy and local land use. The council framed the moratorium as a way to pause approvals while staff, council members and residents gather evidence and visit other jurisdictions. The next procedural step is further review and subsequent readings of the moratorium and proposed zoning text amendments at future meetings.
Attribution: direct quotes and attributions come from the meeting record; public commenters are cited by name as they identified themselves to the record.
Next steps: the council will continue deliberations and follow the statutory steps for ordinance readings; a public hearing on related zoning text amendments is scheduled at the council's next meeting, when council also plans additional review of the moratorium language.
