UPDATED with Teen News Video: Sanford City Council debates newly drafted data center rules ahead of April 21 public hearing

Proposal bans fracking power for data centers while questions around noise, water and enforcement standards continue.

On April 14, Sanford City Council members spent 90 minutes pressing planning staff on proposed land-use rules for data centers, raising concerns about noise enforcement, water quality, environmental oversight, and whether the city is moving too quickly on a decision with long-term consequences.

The work session, held at the Sanford Municipal Center, was the council’s first detailed review of a draft ruleset developed by the Joint Planning Commission, who were in attendance as well. 

Community Development Department Director Marshall Downey noted that the research process around data centers began in late Oct. 2025, when the media started reaching out with questions about Butler Well #3 to power a prospective data center. 

Thomas Mierisch, the Zoning Administrator for the City of Sanford, walked through the land-use and supplemental standards for data centers, adding that the rules were updated following the Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, April 6. 

“I wrote these standards, gleaning what I could from other jurisdictions and how they approached data centers. They didn’t appear to add these standards,” Mierisch said.

“Do you feel like that you’ve done an exhaustive study of the information that exists? Have we only touched the tip of the iceberg?” Downey asked.

“I understand community concerns expressed to me,” said Miersch, after City Councilmember Linda Rhodes asked about the research process. “Yeah. I understand a lot of the community concerns that are expressed to me and likely to you as well. I wrote these standards, gleaning what I could from other jurisdictions and how they approach data centers, and some don’t approach them well. They treat them as generic, light industrial use and don’t feel like they need to treat them any differently.” 

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Council Member at Large Walter Ferguson asked Mierisch about the long-term effects of data centers, picking up the thread of Rhodes’ questioning. “You were there for 10-15 minutes,” Ferguson continued. “You have people who may live there their whole lives. That’s one thing that I’ve read about, and people ask me about it. So has there been research done on that?” Mierisch admitted that he wasn’t qualified to address that question. 

Downey jumped in. “We felt like we got this to the point where we had some really good standards, a really good set. Given everything that’s available to us to get something to you all for your consideration. Is it perfect? No.” 

Here are some of the proposed rules, which are still subject to change before the council’s next meeting in a week, on April 21.

• Data centers would be permitted only in Light Industrial and Heavy Industrial zoning districts, subject to supplemental standards. 
• They would be prohibited from drawing well water, groundwater, or surface water, and must connect to municipal water and wastewater systems. 
• Tri-River Water must confirm in writing that it can handle the supply and discharge demands. 
• Connection to a regional power grid is required. Fracking as a supplemental power source and on-site generators are not permitted.

When Council member Mark Akinosho asked whether residents’ electricity bills would rise due to a data center’s power demands, Downey acknowledged they likely would, but framed the grid upgrades required of data center developers as a potential long-term community benefit. 

Mayor Rebecca Wyhof Salmon noted that utility rate regulation falls outside the city’s authority.

When discussing the details of where a data center could be located, there was significant back-and-forth. Under the latest draft, the standards are tiered based on what abuts or touches the data center property, and, critically, existing land use trumps zoning classification:

• If a neighboring property is zoned industrial but has a house on it, the stricter residential standards apply.
• If it’s up against residential and multifamily land, a 150-foot building setback and 100-foot landscaping buffer are required. 
• If it’s up against light commercial or civic uses, those drop to 125 feet and 75 feet, respectively. 
• If the data center is next to general commercial zoning, setbacks are 100 feet and 50 feet. 
• And for industrial neighbors, only a 50-foot setback is required; no landscaping buffer is required. 

A 500-foot separation between data centers and buildings on other property is also required. And with these particular buffers, there are no berms with saplings. Instead, tree preservation is required: three “large” existing trees must be preserved rather than cleared, and at least 50 percent of any new plantings must be evergreens.

After Akinosho asked about the minimum acreage, planning staff responded that there were no requirements because they would limit property options, adding that land buffers and boundaries could “protect neighbors,” assuaging community concerns and allowing for more location opportunities for any potential developer.

The noise standards also prompted pointed exchanges between council members. 

The draft requires a data center applicant to hire a third-party acoustical engineer, selected and overseen by the city, paid for by the developer, to measure existing sound levels before construction begins. That baseline becomes the legal ceiling the data center must stay under once operating, alongside an absolute maximum of 65 decibels, roughly the volume of a normal conversation. If the surrounding area is already louder than 65 decibels, meaning next to an industrial facility, the data center would be permitted to match that higher level. 

The draft also requires measurement of lower-frequency sounds, beyond what a standard decibel reading captures. That matters because data centers are known for a persistent low hum that standard noise meters can undercount, and neighbors in other communities have described it as ‘maddening,’ even when readings appear within the normal range.

The draft allows up to two complaint-triggered noise studies per calendar year, but if one confirms a violation, the cap no longer shields the applicant from follow-up studies until the problem is fixed, and each violating study carries a $10,000 civil penalty.

Councilmembers Byron Buckels, Ferguson and Rhodes balked at the amount. 

“You know how much money these people are making?” Rhodes stated, drawing laughter from the room. Buckels cut to the point: “It [$10k] doesn’t mean anything to someone with deep pockets.” 

Mayor Salmon asked whether daily fines could be incurred with each repeat violation. “If it were $10,000 per day, they would have an incentive to remedy,” she added. 

Downey said he would take the escalating fine structure back to the county, which was hesitant to accept incremental fines on legal grounds, noting that “every day would be a separate offense.” Akinosho added in another concern: “They’re gonna have lawyers. We have to be ready.” 

When members raised environmental concerns, such as water pollution, the mayor and the planning department reminded the council that these are regulated by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. 

Rhodes questioned whether the city could rely on state and federal agencies to fill gaps in environmental oversight. “We only have one chance to get these requirements as tight and stringent as we can,” she said.

Planning staff confirmed that no consultation with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality occurred during the drafting process.

Ferguson said the pace of other jurisdictions gave him pause. “I would hate for us to mess something up just for the sake of bringing a data center here,” he said, noting that Wendell passed a moratorium the night before and that Apex, Cary, and Pittsboro have taken similar steps. “Let’s make sure that, when and if this happens, we hold these people accountable. I’m not looking to do like everybody else.”

Council member Charles Taylor offered a different read on the same landscape. “The disturbing thing we’ve seen as elected officials is how flat-footed many jurisdictions are on this issue,” he said. Throughout the session, Taylor was among the most active voices, frequently interjecting to clarify technical details and defend the process, at one point noting unprompted that fracking as a power source had effectively been foreclosed under the rules. “They have to connect to the grid. No generators either,” he added, looking in the direction of residents in attendance. 

“Catawba County said, ‘rules? We’ve got light industrial, that’s what we’ve got,’” Taylor said, adding that Lee County and Sanford are helping set the standard. “It’s nice to have something that we’re actually leading on. This will be the bare minimum everywhere in North Carolina. It’s nice to be a part of that process.”

After reviewing the data center standards proposal, Stephanie Stephens, the Riverkeeper of the Deep River and a vocal opponent of the fracking proposal, acknowledged that the draft rules represent progress but said her biggest concern remains with water. The prohibition on drawing directly from surface water, including the Deep River itself, which serves roughly 100,000 people immediately and up to 900,000 downstream, is a meaningful protection, she said. 

Under the draft rules, a data center applicant would be required to obtain written confirmation from Tri-River Water that the utility can handle both the facility’s water demand and its wastewater discharge, as well as a separate letter from its electricity provider, likely Duke Energy or Central Electric, confirming adequate power capacity. 

But Stephens said those letters only go so far. “This is where it’s not good enough yet,” she said, questioning whether a letter of confirmation alone is sufficient to ensure the systems can truly handle the load. 

“What needs to be secured by TriRivers is pretreatment requirements on-site at the data center. Until wastewater treatment facilities have synthetic chemical treatment capability, industrial users that produce synthetic chemicals like PFAS must be required to remove them before sending their wastewater,” added Stephens. “This should be included in the rule draft as a requirement, not expected from TriRivers through a verbal agreement with the data center.”

Stephens maintains her support for a moratorium on data centers until previous plans to supply water to Pittsboro are fulfilled and TriRivers has retrofitted its facilities, which isn’t expected until 2028. 

A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, at the Sanford Municipal Center, 225 E. Weatherspoon Street. The City Council meeting begins at 5 p.m., with the joint public hearing opening at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers. The Planning Board could vote to recommend adoption that same night, and the City Council could vote to adopt the rules immediately after. Anyone wishing to speak must sign up by 5:50 p.m.

April 15, 2026

Diara J. Townes

Journalist

Diara J. Townes is an award-winning independent journalist covering environment, government and business, with a focus on marginalized communities and local stories.

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