By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
The Lee County Board of Commissioners turned back two separate attempts Monday night to slow down a proposal for a data center facility on Lower Moncure Road, rejecting calls from residents who packed a meeting demanding immediate action..
More than 150 people crowded into the county’s meeting space, filling seats, aisles, and doorways as 21 speakers addressed commissioners over a two hour public comment period.
A surprise resolution falls flat
Board Chair Samantha Martin, a Republican, opened the meeting by presenting a surprise resolution — not listed on the agenda and not shared with the press beforehand — urging the North Carolina General Assembly to “research and enact legislation for data centers of all sizes” to address construction and operational concerns statewide. Copies were to be sent to Sen. Jim Burgin and Rep. John Sauls.
But with the legislature nearing the end of its 2025–26 session and unlikely to take up new issues before the November elections, the resolution landed poorly. A visible wave of frustration swept through the room, followed by jeers.
“This resolution is just bullcrap,” said Lower Moncure Road resident Donna Evenson. “You know it could be years before state government ever does anything. Y’all need to do something now.”
A moratorium motion stopped cold
A second attempt surfaced near the end of the meeting, after most of the crowd had left.
Eric Davidson, a Republican newcomer appointed last month to replace outgoing Commissioner Taylor Vorbeck, said he was struck by residents’ concerns about constant noise from 24 hour data center operations and its potential effects on human health and wildlife.
“I’m wondering if there is a way, using the latest technologies, to mitigate those sounds while we do our research on setting standards that are appropriate,” he said, before offering a motion to impose a 90 day moratorium on new data centers.
County Attorney Whitney Parrish advised that commissioners lacked authority to enact a moratorium without following state-mandated procedures.
“There are specific facts that have to be stated, there has to be a public hearing, there have to be notices published,” she said. “Those things that have yet to be done prevent the board from voting on a moratorium this evening.”
Davidson withdrew his motion.
Residents voice anger, fear, and frustration
Speakers throughout the night reflected a mix of longstanding concerns and new anxieties.
Ron Hewitt of Rosemont Lane said he and his wife moved to Lee County 50 years ago for its quality of life, which he feels has eroded as companies are recruited for reasons other than community benefit.
Eric Evenson accused local officials of keeping residents in the dark about a proposed 90 megawatt data center near Cumnock, asking, “is there a secret government going on in Lee County?”
Debbie Hall raised alarms about the Enbridge natural gas pipeline planned for eastern Chatham County, citing company literature linking the project to the proposed CyrusOne data center on Lower Moncure Road and plans to drill beneath Deep River.
But the most heated remarks came from Mark Mansfield, a third generation resident of Lower Moncure Road.
“You can end this thing right now by enacting a moratorium,” he erupted as he pounded the podium. “I’m thinking about selling every damn thing I’ve got because of y’all.”
“I know it’s hard to wait”
As the public portion of the meeting closed after more than three hours, Democratic commissioner Robert Reives addressed the remaining audience members — and those watching online — about the slow pace of the board’s response.
“We are trying to do this the right way,” he said. “It only makes it worse if we go about it the wrong way. I know it’s hard to wait. But I’d rather get it right, and I believe we will get it right. We are just not going to do it haphazardly.”
Thank you Mr. Sullins for your article and covering these crucial times we are having and fighting on Lower Moncure Rd. One thing good is we are becoming a strong community and bringing on allies from everywhere. This data center will tear our lives apart giving us many sleepless nights and the stress is enormous! Jimmy Randolph (SAGA) Kirk Smith done this to us right behind our backs! We are going to give it all we got to vote Kirk out in Nov. But now (SAGA) is operating behind closed doors and in the shadows without any regulations and answering to no one ! And we the tax payers are paying them along with private contributions probably from corporations they represent. We don’t how much. But the fact is SAGA can come in anywhere in this county right in your back yard behind your back get land rezoned under false pretenses. Not be held accountable and leave you with the consequences!!
I don’t know who is supposedly advising the group on or around Lower Moncure Road but it’s been an industrial corridor for decades. The Airport, the Overhead Transmission Mains, the Railroads, the old Coal Fired Electric Plant, the Brick Pits, Gravel Pits, Glue board plant, and the City’s water plant combined by decades of CP&L ownership have rendered the area industrial despite the greenery of some trees and some farms. You have a lot of venom for SAGA but Central Electric began work on this three years ago. To begin that work they had to have an understanding from Duke Power for the raw power to come to their new substation. When the City installed a sewer lift station on LMR did you miss that? When the airport site was announced 35 years ago folks with the City clearly spelled out the future of the area. The actual usage of a data center in a zoning concept is one thing and is regulated by one set of NC Laws by which the County and City are bound. A noise ordinance, separate and apart from zoning, is a different animal, can be enforced and likely would be vigorously. enforced by the City since they own property next to the site.
I’m not sure a data center would even devalue the land in the area because as farmland under present use discount it has very little value. Industrial or commercial land has great value. Once completed that part of LMR will have access to city sewer and city water. It may not be what you wanted but it allows you to sell out and move towards Asheboro Zoo which is where you have to go to get out of the Triangle’s growth footprint.
You are a idiot!! You are referring to Moncure N.C. Lower Moncure Road has beautiful homes tree farms also farm land being used by leased by local farmers!! The airport is considered to be on Farrell Rd. off US 1 . Not Lower Moncure Road. Yes we here the planes Yes we heard the train come threw everyday at 7pm when CP&L had the coal plant running. We are not a Industrial park or want to be one !! DO YOU WANT ONE IN YOUR BACK YARD MR. PROGRESS!!!
I am suspicious of this method being employed.
What method is being employed? The private developers, real estate people, and electric folks getting their legal ducks in a row before publicly surfacing anything? Lower Moncure Road to Lower River Road would make for a fantastic regional theme park area. As the kids yell and scream and bring money into Lee County the nearby residents can sell out at commercial rates and move toward the Zoo, Governors Creek, or Carbonton and get away from the urbanization that has been coming down the road for 60 years.
The method of determining the vote. To ignore that many voters that many times then vote as a determined block against then. Not many votes for the citizens to count on. This makes me suspicious of the overt part of the process. Then the covert part of the process makes the other look like a school play.
The commissioners have an obligation to the residents of Lee County to bring in as much tax revenue as possible. Was that land being actively farmed? If it was sitting idle than it was not generating any tax revenue other than property taxes. The land on Colon Road is a mixture of residential, farming and industry. The new residents that have moved in on Colon Road knew that they lived in an industrial area because it was there first. There is even a rock quarry within a stones distance of where they live.
Ex pat is correct. There are certainly ways to mitigate the complaints surrounding Data Centers. It is within the commissioners’ authority to make stipulations as to how the site is prepared. They could mandate a 100′ perimeter around the site edge be dedicated to trees. They can stipulate that the half of the building be underground. They can also state that the Data Centers derive 15 percent of their energy usage from alternative sources. Wouldn’t this help mitigate some of the noise and energy concerns that citizens our concerned about?
I would be willing to bet the Data Center developers would do whatever it takes to get these centers erected. They do not have time to fight. They are under a lot of pressure to get these built quickly and they have the money to do it. However, they know that local leaders can be easily bullied. They do not want the State of NC to get involved.
It appears to me that leadership at both the Federal and State level are taking a hands-off approach and letting local leadership regulate data centers. This is an opportunity for our commissioners to be in the forefront on this debate for the state of NC. All they need to do is stand strong. Voters follow the money, see if any of our commissioners or our mayor are receiving campaign monies.
“Farmland, Timberland, and Grazing Land” under the present use value tax deduction don’t pay any property taxes on the land in that classification. When you go to the GIS system of a county you can look it up. The house will be on the tax books, but not the land. The county only gets 4 years worth of back taxes if the land is sold out of present use value so if you grow a stand of trees and it takes 30 years, that’s 26 years of property taxes you don’t have to pay and your neighbor in town has to make that up. As far as people talking ahead of a vote. Only morons don’t talk ahead of a vote. You can’t negotiate or effectively debunk crap at the public forum. Some people bald face lie, some get emotional and lie and exaggerate, some will say anything under pressure. The Board is not elected to be the rubber stamp of the public, that’s mob rule. The Board is elected to represent the interests of their constituents – long, short, and medium term. I have to admit after watching the video of the meeting I was impressed with the new Chair. She ran a tight ship. 90-95 of a public meeting is performative. The Staff, interested parties, State, Feds, and yes many local individuals have their says before the cameras role. This is like dealing with a guilty murderer. What you “know” is irrelevant. What you “feel” is irrelevant. You have to give the scuzz a fair trial before you hang him. The commissioners and the city council know they need to control the noise off that and other plants, but they also need to do it in a legal way and not end having it used against Paul Gay Stadium, Coty, or one of the Textile or Chicken plants.
Question again DO YOU WANT ONE IN YOUR BACK YARD !! SINCE YOU ALL FOR PROGRESS OF THIS DATA CENTER!!!
The residents have pleaded spoke been ignored all other counties have put mortitoriums up some permanent!! But not Lee County!! Question DO YOU WANT DATA CENTER IN YOUR BACK YARD!!!
Why is everyone trying to expand? Make room for 40 million illegal aliens? Or maybe their Econ 101 class told them that every year budgets go up 5% to cover increases due to inflation, fraud and embezzlement? I hate that lecture. It is a self employment push for the financial managers.
Why not just plow stuff over and give grants for people to farm with? Decent safe work!
Remember, do less, with less and make it cost less. We can afford that.
Cloud, from the intersection of old us 1 to Lee’s Chapel Road, the Airport Authority owns 6,000 feet of frontage on Lee’s Chapel. That over a mile of land owned by the airport. What do you think they intend to do with it? 3M and Hunt Trucking own almost 4,000 feet from that intersection to the railroad tracks and intersection of Lower River Road. 3M owns that land to dig a new rock quarry. Hunt already has a industrial truck yard going at the site. That’s the Lee County side of the Deep River although I consider Moncure, Haywood part of your general neighborhood even though you do not. I don’t want a data center in my back yard, but I also don’t want an airport, hard rock mine, brownstone or clay mine, electric generating plant, 230 and 500 KV overhead power lines, natural gas line, large chicken houses, hog farms, or cattle lot. To avoid those things, I have had to pay more money and live around other people in a suburban environment. I recognize that LMR seems isolated in the summer. But I know from years of first-hand experience that once the leaves fall that if walk up a small hill, you can see the old CP&L site, the crown of the airport runway, and the Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Towers. A moratorium against this particular site is illegal, and a moratorium has to expire. The moratorium in Chatham will expire in February. They are already in a losing legal battle with ECO on the site that is located just north of Moncure between old and new US 1. Instead of badgering the Commissioners to waste money on a law suit they can’t win, why don’t you ask them to compensate the area with a new park or just the purchase of land for a future park?
Duke Power owns the land CP&L owned on both sides of Lower River road, above NC 42 to Lick Creek. Weyrhouser owns another 600 acres on the other side of Lower River Road. What do you think their intentions are for the future for this 4,000 acres of land that runs from NC 42 to near Cletus Hall Road? That’s your neighborhood too. What have you done proactively to stop it from becoming 7,000-10,000 houses or a set metal boxes as far as the eye can see? The city’s water plant will have 36 mgd and there is a sewer lift station on Hughes Creek near Cletus Hall Road on LMR. Everyone seemed to cheer when CP&L agreed to shut down the Coal Fired Plant, but what it also freed their buffer land in Lee County. And no, I would not want in my backyard if I planned to live there another 30 years.
I seem to have read what the real problem is. “The commissioners have an obligation to the residents of Lee County to bring in as much tax revenue as possible.”
Ah, No they do not. Wise control maybe butt not the wholesale county giving control to a development group. The money would not be needed if the expansion was not planned.
Use the example of the Ambulance Service as a measure. Not very well done and still expensive.
Think about this. When investing, would you put your money in an institution that pays 1 percent interest or into a money market that pays 4 percent interest? The same applies in this case.
The commissioners can accept no tax money from a farm or receive millions from an industry that will increase tax values and bring more development.
The goal in urban development has always been to bring in as much tax revenue per acre as possible. The downside is gentrification. We do see this in major cities, and it is an issue.
We have inflation to deal with and if you do not have new money coming in then the commissioners are faced with raising property taxes.
Since the 1960’s Charlotte has made developers pay for the infrastructure/upgrades their properties needed if it did not already exist. Lee county can do the same. Other large NC cities do this also.
In the case of data centers, Lee County can impose restrictions. I have mentioned buffer zones around the perimeter of the sites…not only would this hide them but also provide some sound reduction. I have mentioned some other ideas that can be imposed. I would challenge others to suggest solutions to mitigate the issues around data centers instead of just opposing them. Alternative energy can be legally mandated; site preparation can be controlled. We just need leadership to get it done. Lee County has not kept up with the times, time to grow up commissioners.
You are correct. Here is a good article about reducing diesel generator noise: https://www.whjlmech.com/knowledge/what-are-the-best-practices-for-reducing-diesel-generator-noise-pollution This is a technical issue and the County nor the City have to accept just anything that a Data Center proposes – that’s what good building inspectors and site plan reviewers are for. There are a number of ways and methods to cut noise and vibration and several should be employed, but you can’t list exact specifications in a zoning code. You can tie the certificate of occupancy to the noise, meaning a violation is not just a zoning code violation but a c/o violation. You can tie provision of city water to compliance. You can also put the monkey on the Co-Op relative to electricity if the Data Center does not comply. Noise falls under the “police” powers of local government.
Why is it important to keep “UP” with the times? Rushing to be the first to the end of the line?
What if it is not even needed? How many years are the data centers going to be harvesting my own personal data and trying to sell it to some else? 10? 11? What then? Another lousy brick(?) structure just wasting away?
If I had some extra money to invest, your advice sounds like it may be doable.
Read this and feel better – https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/course_materials/General%20Ordinance.pdf
What if there was not a whole bunch of dumb dims trying to get some over taxed citizens to pay more and more. How much has taxes risen? For whom is the money being spent? Extra staff/contractor that cannot spell on the Entrance sign at a public park? This can go on and on. Then go pay your utility bill and walk past a large display that has a Mexican flag and a presentation for a sister city in Mexico. Very nice and all is well done.
None of this is truly needed. The resources being consumed is requiring more needs so it can consume more. The fire is feeding itself. Not enough managers to manage the managers.
No to the data center.
These commissioners don’t live on islands.
Sure hope that they live in Lee County.
I am against data centers in Lee County for the following reasons: extreme consumption of resources: electricity and water to run and cool these massive centers, immediate devaluation of real estate within 2-5 mile radius of the center, negligible job opportunities for Lee County residents since most of the jobs require specialized engineers and analysts with few long term blue collar job opportunities, Lee County’s aged infrastructure (roads, waterways, energy, etc) which should be updated before allowing these centers to be built. Please take a look at the energy and economic strain the cryptocurrency data centers in Louisiana and Texas, as well as the strain that newly built data centers in Pennsylvania have put on their citizens and the infrastructures of the cities, counties and state. These data center developers are opportunists who are going to go to the states and municipalities that have the least restrictions. They will take advantage of those municipalities who just see tax revenues without seeing the devastation and depletion of resources and negative economic impact on the counties’ citizens.
How do you devalue real estate that is already surrounded by a nuclear plant, coal dump pits, airport, hard rock mines, two rail lines, two overhead electric transmission lines, a natural gas line and big chunk of flood plain?
Might not need to devalue as such. A recession accomplishes the same thing, pretty much.
The disconnect between reality and fantasy must be due to decades of Carolina Plunder and Loot burning coal and putting mercury and arsenic into the area around the plant. That is about all I can figure. The airport is just a mile through the woods behind the proposed site. A plant of similar size has a site in Moncure between old and new US 1, Within 2-5 miles is the City Water Plant, CP&L Coal Ash Dump, Current Wake Stone mine, new -3-M hard rock mine, a Hunt Trucking logistics yard, a city sewer lift station, a number of brick pits, arcunru, and a fiberboard plywood factory in addition to the utilities listed above. The area is not pretty rolling pasture land like you find in Chatham County, nor high dollar residential like West Sanford or Pittsboro, or even highly productive farmland like Broadway or Lemon Springs. If it were like any of that the land in the area would not be cheap relative to other land in Chatham and Lee County, but rational conversation is predicated on people have a similar understanding of the facts and the truth. This is like a religious argument between fundamentalist Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Sihck, a Shinto person and that cult of bald-headed people whose name I can’t remember right now. Opinions only, no shared facts.