Greensboro City Council schedules hearing on 120-day moratorium for large data centers

The Greensboro City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Monday, August 17 at 4 p.m. on a proposed 120-day moratorium that would affect data centers, the Clerk announced. "Greensboro City Council will hold a public hearing on a proposed 120 day moratorium on data centers exceeding 10 megawatts," the Clerk said.

Council members voted 9 to 0 on Aug. 3 to begin the formal process required before the moratorium could be adopted, a procedural step the Clerk described during the announcement. If the moratorium is adopted, it would temporarily pause the acceptance, processing and approval of development applications for data centers, data storage and processing facilities, and similar uses with an electrical power demand exceeding 10 megawatts.

City staff said the pause would provide additional time to study potential infrastructure and utility impacts, including electrical-grid capacity, as well as environmental and land-use consequences. The Clerk said the council will hear from subject-matter experts representing a range of perspectives and will review best practices from other communities through a series of work sessions as part of the process.

No specific ordinance language, sponsor names, or vote roll-call were provided in the announcement; the Aug. 3 tally was reported as 9 to 0. The hearing is intended to let the council take public testimony and consider whether to adopt the moratorium or proceed with alternative steps following the work sessions and expert input.