Title
A legislative public hearing requested by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners to consider a temporary twelve (12) month moratorium on the permitting of data centers, data processing facilities, cryptocurrency mining operations, and any other associated uses within the unincorporated areas of Chatham County, pursuant to N.C.G.S. ?160D-107
Abstract
Introduction & Background:
As digital infrastructure becomes increasingly vital to economic development, communities across the U.S. are seeing growing interest in data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities. Chatham County anticipates more applications for this type of intensive use and needs the proper time to create adequate land use regulations to mitigate the negative impacts of data processing facilities and associated uses. A temporary twelve (12) month moratorium is the best course of action to ensure the proper care is given to researching and producing a sufficient and robust regulatory scheme.
The table of permitted uses in the zoning ordinance currently includes "Data processing, hosting and related services" as requiring a special use permit in the Heavy Industrial district unless connected to public water and sewer, then they are allowed by right. The ordinance does not define this use and the industry has changed significantly in recent years, so the ordinance needs to better align with current industry practices, and to specifically define cryptocurrency mining as a land use, separate and apart from data centers. Staff will also research definitions for the different types of data processing and mining operations.
Discussion & Analysis:
Data Processing Facilities is a broad term that doesn't necessarily encompass all of the uses associated with data mining enterprises. These uses, while similar in appearance, have distinct operational characteristics and impacts. The three main types of data processing facilities are enterprise or internal data centers, colocation facilities, and ...
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