The Town of Holly Springs has approved a one-year pause on data center development in the town.
During a Town Council meeting on Tuesday, Holly Springs officials voted to approve the moratorium for one year. It is the latest town in the Triangle to pause developments in the community.
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Residents said the developments bring health concerns and noise pollution that could "reduce property values."
"I hope a ban on data centers and a longer moratorium is put in place in the future to allow staff to properly assess the dangers of data centers but this is a start," attendees said.
Local leaders across more than 10 counties in central North Carolina are having similar discussions over data centers. Wake, Chatham and Orange counties have each put one-year pauses in place. The City of Durham extended its initial 60-day pause by 10 months at its council meeting on Monday.
Data center developers are increasingly running into hostility and facing rejection from municipal boards that oversee zoning applications or construction permits. Just this week, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted on X that electricity bills for residents living near data centers have gone up as much as 267%. However, WRAL's Politifact found that statement mostly false.
Large-scale data centers use massive amounts of water to operate.
In Person County, clean-water advocates have raised skepticism about Microsoft’s plans for a new data center. Microsoft, however, has promised to minimize water use and replenish what it uses, the county has said.