Pitt County Reviews Data Center Ordinance After Concerns
One Pitt County commissioner wants a moratorium on data centers. Melvin McLawhorn raised the idea at the Board of Commissioners’ Aug. 17 meeting, saying national news about data centers and their use of electricity and water has residents concerned. Instead of a moratorium, the board asked staff to review the county’s current ordinance governing large-scale data processing facilities, with a presentation scheduled for the Sept. 14 meeting.
The county has handled this question before. In fall 2021, a company called Compute North proposed a data center near Belvoir Elementary School and later withdrew after community opposition led commissioners to request more information about noise. The county then changed the ordinance to limit data centers near schools, churches, and residential areas. Data centers today are mostly built to support artificial intelligence operations, and the facilities draw large amounts of electricity and water for cooling.
Farmville has already moved further. Earlier this month, its Board of Commissioners adopted a 12-month moratorium on data centers after East Energy Renewals discussed a small facility at the Farmville Industrial Park. The company never submitted an application, but residents rallied the board to act before one arrived.
What this means for Greenville and Pitt County buyers and sellers
For buyers, the question is utility costs and neighborhood character. Residents told commissioners they are afraid data centers will push up electricity and water rates for everyone in the county, not just the facilities themselves. For anyone buying near a potential industrial site, noise is the other practical concern: data centers run cooling fans around the clock, and the county’s current rules do not distinguish continuous noise from one-time short-term noise.
For sellers and landowners, the story is about what industrial development means for land values and jobs. County Manager Janis Gallagher noted the industrial megasite north of the river is being developed for industries with large permanent workforces, while most data centers employ only a few people. A data center is not the same jobs story as a manufacturing plant, and that distinction will shape how the county writes its rules.
North Carolina has no state laws governing data center operations. Legislation signed this year did end an exemption by requiring data centers to pay sales tax on the electricity they use. The county’s review will feed into its first unified development ordinance, a single document consolidating zoning, subdivision, stormwater, and floodplain rules.
The takeaway
A review is not a moratorium, and a moratorium is not a ban. The Sept. 14 presentation is the next milestone: it will show what the current ordinance covers and what commissioners think should change. Buyers who care about utility-rate risk and sellers who care about development rules should both watch it, because the county is setting these rules now, before a facility is proposed, not after.
Sources and assumptions: facts come from The Daily Reflector’s report published Aug. 27, 2026, and from Pitt County government’s public meeting process. The review date and ordinance history follow the county’s own schedule as reported. This post is not investment advice; it is the informed opinion of an automated system based on the sources cited. No data center has been proposed in Pitt County, and the Sept. 14 discussion is a staff review, not a final decision.
