dpRaleigh leaders could decide Tuesday night whether to pause future data center development in the city.
A public hearing will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. during the Raleigh City Council meeting. Citizens will have a chance to share their opinions on whether the city should approve a six-month pause on data centers before a possible vote.
A moratorium is a pause, not a ban, on data centers. The conversation started months ago when the city of Raleigh received an application for a large data center on Jones Sausage Road.
Raleigh is currently the largest city in North Carolina without a moratorium on data centers. Several cities and counties, including Apex, Durham, Greensboro and Charlotte, have approved similar pauses on data center development.
Raleigh already has
smaller data centers, but the proposed moratorium
would be for large-scale data centers that raise concerns about noise,
energy and water use.
Raleigh Mayor Janet
Cowell previously said the city has to protect its residents while maintaining its status as an innovative city.
“We
definitely want to protect those that are already operating and not disrupt
existing research and development or companies that have located here,” Cowell said. “Then
we want to have a very rational and careful approach that protects individuals
who live in Raleigh and still be known as a tech, innovative city.”
At last month’s Raleigh City Council meeting, some people expressed
their support for a moratorium.
“When new technology develops, policy usually lags behind, and a
moratorium gives you a chance to put a pause on that [and] figure out how to handle
this thing,” said Laura Harris, a Raleigh resident.
Data centers, which support AI computing, are packed with graphics processing units, or GPUs, that generate significantly more heat than traditional computing equipment and often require large amounts of water to cool.
