Mooresville will not accept or approve new data center applications until Nov. 1, 2027, while it writes rules on water, power and noise. Here is what is exempt and what happens next.

Mooresville will not take or approve applications for new data centers for the next year. The Board of Commissioners adopted a 12-month moratorium at its meeting Monday, Nov. 2.

The pause runs until Nov. 1, 2027, or until the town adopts its own rules for data centers, whichever comes first. It covers the town limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction, the area just outside town where Mooresville controls zoning.

The town announced the vote in a release on Nov. 2. The details below come from the moratorium ordinance in the board’s Nov. 2 agenda packet.

What the moratorium does

While it is in force, the ordinance says:

  • no new application for a data center can be accepted
  • permit processing for new data centers stops
  • no approval for a new data center can be issued

The board held a public hearing on the ordinance the same night, before adopting it.

Why the town says it needs a pause

The town “has seen an increase in data center development inquiry,” the ordinance says. It does not say how many inquiries or name any company.

It lists the concerns the town wants to study:

  • the electricity, land and water data centers need
  • noise and light pollution
  • heat islands and other effects on people living nearby
  • the strain on town infrastructure and utilities

The ordinance singles out “hyperscale facilities,” the largest kind of data center.

The town said it looked for alternatives to a moratorium and did not find one, “largely due to state law.” It points to Session Law 2024-57, Senate Bill 382. That law limits a town’s power to down-zone land without the written consent of every affected owner. In practice, the town cannot simply remove data centers from the zoning districts where its rules already allow them.

Many other North Carolina governments have adopted moratoriums or new rules for data centers over concerns about electric demand, water use and noise, the town’s release said.

What is exempt

The pause does not apply to:

  • a project with a valid building permit already issued
  • a project whose special use permit application has been accepted as complete
  • development in an approved site-specific vesting plan
  • a project where substantial money has already been spent in good faith on an earlier valid approval
  • development whose preliminary or final subdivision plat was accepted for review before the hearing was called in October
  • a data facility that mainly serves its own institution, such as a hospital, government office, phone company or other business, as long as it does not sell data processing to outside users

What happens next

The ordinance sets out a timetable for the town’s Planning and Community Development Department:

Step Deadline in the ordinance
Study how other cities, counties and states regulate data centers Within three months, by early February 2027
Bring proposed rule changes to the board, with public input Within nine months, by early August 2027
Moratorium ends Nov. 1, 2027, or sooner if new rules are adopted

The study also covers cryptocurrency mining and other data processing uses. Any rule changes would amend the town’s Unified Development Ordinance and go through the usual hearings. The board can also end the moratorium early by ordinance.

The ordinance ties the work to the town’s new growth plan, Mooresville Tomorrow 2040, which the board adopted Sept. 21.

A data center question already came up this year

Data centers have come up in Mooresville zoning cases before. In June, the developer of the Davis Development #2 apartments on River Highway agreed to drop data centers from the uses allowed on its site, Planning Board minutes show. We covered that case in our story on the River Highway rezoning hearings.

What it means for you

If you live near land zoned for industry or business, no new data center can win approval there for at least a year. The rules Mooresville writes in that time will decide where data centers can go, and what limits they face on water, power, noise and light.

You will be able to comment when the proposed rules reach the Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners. You can also send a written comment at any time through the town clerk’s public comment page. Contact details for every commissioner are in our guide to who to call in town government. For how zoning works in Mooresville, see our building permits and zoning guide.

We will report when the town publishes its research and proposed rules.