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Randolph County adopts UDO updates and new rules for data centers after lengthy public hearing
Summary
The Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted required legislative updates to the Unified Development Ordinance and a separate package of stricter rules for data-processing facilities, including noise limits, a 1,000-foot impact analysis, decommissioning financial assurances and a conditional-zoning pathway to ensure public hearings.
Randolph County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved two linked actions to update the county's Unified Development Ordinance and add a new set of requirements for data-processing facilities. The package — presented by county planning staff and recommended by the planning board — aims to add local guardrails that staff said go beyond the state's baseline where legally permitted.
Kim, the county planning director, summarized the proposed changes in one section on data centers: "The applicant...has to provide financial assurance sufficient to cover the estimated cost of decommissioning," she said during the presentation. The UDO language adopted by the board requires applicants to submit a decommissioning plan signed and sealed by a North Carolina professional engineer, financial assurance sized to the independent estimate plus a 10% contingency, and periodic re‑evaluation of the estimate at least every five years.
The data-center rules also require an analysis of properties within 1,000 feet of any proposed site — including residences and churches — a property-line noise target (the draft sets 60 decibels at the property line with potential for a lower limit), and a mandatory sound study performed before and after operations. Planners said the draft also specifies a level-3 vegetative buffer around the full property line and permits additional language to address perimeter security and utility impacts.
After public comment and discussion about legal exposure, the board adopted a provision that will treat data-center proposals as a conditional zoning/conditional district, a pathway that triggers an explicit public hearing and preserves the board's role in appeals. Chairman Frost White said the process will remain open to residents: "The public will be involved in the process," he told the room as the board moved to close the hearing and take action.
Commissioners framed the changes as a starting point: staff and the planning board recommended the language, and members said additional refinements could be made after the ordinance is on the books and the public has another opportunity to comment. The motions to adopt the general legislative updates and the separate data-center text both passed by unanimous voice votes.
