Citizens respond to Lee County Commissioner Kirk Smith’s questions

In his recent editorial submission in Sandhills News, former Lee County Commissioner Chairman Kirk Smith posed ten questions challenging the citizens who signed the June 15 data center petition. To read and sign the petition go to: Petition · Petition for Immediate Moratorium in Lee County, NC – United States · Change.org

As engaged residents and taxpayers, we welcome this public dialogue. Our desire is not to stop progress, but to protect Lee County’s shared water resources, power grid stability, residential peace and quality of life. Below, we provide respectful, fact-based answers to each of Mr. Smith’s questions. These responses demonstrate why a temporary moratorium and a thorough professional review are the most fiscally responsible, common-sense actions our current commissioners can take to secure a safe and prosperous future for all of us.

Question #1 – Is this petition a presentation for a Grand Jury as it implies something nefarious?

“No, Commissioner Smith, this petition is not for a Grand Jury—it is a presentation to the court of public opinion, where Lee County citizens are demanding the transparency they are legally owed. When a 430-acre tract on Lower Moncure Road is rezoned under the guise of a quiet business park, only to morph into a massive 90-megawatt data center complex, asking questions is not ‘nefarious’—it is necessary. We believe even your fellow commissioners acknowledge that this process was flawed. Deflecting valid community concerns about noise, water, and utility strains as a stunt insults the intelligence of the residents who did their homework. This petition is a lawful exercise of our right to hold local government accountable. If everything was done out in the open there is no reason to fear a temporary moratorium to align our rules with reality. Transparency is only a threat when there is something to hide.”

Question #2 – Who will foot the bill for a professional review of the existing data center ordinance?

“Commissioner Smith, the citizens of Lee County are already footing the bill for this flawed process—investing in a professional review now is how we prevent those costs from multiplying.

Right now, our community is being asked to gamble its water, grid stability, and peace on an already outdated ordinance that was never designed for a mega-scale data center campus. Failing to hire an independent professional to align our rules with reality today means taxpayers will foot a much heavier bill tomorrow in plummeting property values, noise issues, and infrastructure overhauls. Investing a small, transparent amount of county funds to protect billions in local assets is basic fiscal responsibility. True conservatism means measuring twice so taxpayers don’t have to pay twice to fix a permanent mistake. If we can allocate resources to recruit these projects behind closed doors, we can allocate resources to protect the citizens who actually pay the bills.”

“The data center ordinance is woefully deficient. City Councilman Charles Taylor, who was in charge of its drafting, said on April 21 that this UDO was a living document, and therefore should be growing with needed amendments. The public needs protection now.”

Question #3 – Who will foot the bill requiring an independent review from a variety of professionals as it pertains to: noise, power, fire safety, emergency response, stormwater, water/wastewater, and neighboring -property impacts?

“Commissioner Smith, the developer should foot the bill—because in professional economic development, requiring a multi-billion-dollar corporation to pay for its own impact studies is standard business, not a burden to our taxpayers.

When a massive, 90-megawatt data center complex is proposed, the entity asking to profit from Lee County’s land and resources is the one that must prove it won’t harm our community. Forward-thinking counties all across North Carolina do not empty their own pockets to study a developer’s project. They structure their ordinances so that the applicant pays for independent, third-party professionals to evaluate noise, stormwater, fire safety, and utility strains.

Suggesting that the county must choose between fiscal ruin or flying blind is a false dilemma. If a developer cannot afford the cost of proving their project is safe for Lower Moncure Road, they cannot afford to build here. The citizens of Lee County are simply asking for the basic, protective guardrails that successful counties use every day to ensure that economic growth doesn’t come at the expense of our quality of life.”

Question #4 – Are you planning to oppose future development of the neighboring properties owned by the Raleigh Executive Jetport, as they pursue aviation-based manufacturing facilities?

“No, Commissioner Smith, because comparing an aviation manufacturing facility to a massive, utility-draining data center complex is comparing apples to industrial warehouses.

The Raleigh Executive Jetport is a vital public asset. Citizens enthusiastically support true aviation manufacturing because it brings high-paying, skilled jobs for our local workforce with balanced infrastructure demands.

A 90-megawatt data center campus is entirely different. It creates very few permanent jobs after construction, strains our power grid, and threatens our health with constant 24/7 cooling fan noise.

Even with a closed-loop system claiming a daily draw of 250,000 gallons, it still locks up a massive 430-acre tract while generating virtually no permanent local jobs after construction. Furthermore, a closed-loop system does nothing to reduce the project’s staggering electrical burden on our power grid or the threat of constant cooling-fan noise. Opposing this flawed, secretive data center process does not mean opposing the Jetport; it means we support smart growth that employs our community rather than predatory growth that drains our resources while leaving the citizens holding the bag.”

Question #5 – To maintain “equal in the eyes of the law,” thus avoiding fines becoming “arbitrary and capricious,” do you support raising all Code Violation fines from $100 to $10,000?

“No, Commissioner Smith, because treating an unmowed lawn and a catastrophic industrial spill as ‘equal’ under the law isn’t justice—it is an abuse of power.

The legal principle of ‘proportionality’ exists precisely so the punishment fits the crime. A $100 fine is a meaningful deterrent for a homeowner with a minor property violation. But to a multi-billion-dollar tech corporation, a $100 fine is not a deterrent—it is just the cheap cost of doing business. If a massive data center facility violates noise ordinances, leaks hazardous cooling chemicals, or ignores stormwater rules, a minor fine does absolutely nothing to protect the surrounding neighborhood.

Suggesting we must bankrupt local families with $10,000 fines just to hold a mega-corporation accountable is a textbook scare tactic. True equality under the law means ensuring that everyone—no matter how rich or powerful—faces a penalty that actually forces them to follow the rules. Lee County citizens deserve a graded, common-sense fine system that protects our neighborhoods from industrial negligence without punishing everyday residents.”

Question #6 – Loudon County, Virginia’s is the world’s leading location of data centers, How do you explain their ability to maintain operations without drying up the Potomac River or creating devastating power blackouts?

“Commissioner Smith, using Loudoun County as your model proves exactly why Lee County must pause and rewrite its rules immediately—because Loudoun is currently facing a massive crisis over its unchecked data center growth.

To suggest that Loudoun County is operating without consequence ignores reality. The massive surge in data centers has put such a heavy strain on the Potomac River Basin that a major report named the Potomac the #1 Most Endangered River in the United States explicitly due to rapid data center sprawl. Furthermore, Virginia’s regional power grid monitors have formally warned that the grid can no longer safely support new data centers without risking severe cost increases and localized grid instability for everyday homeowners.

Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors is currently dealing with a tidal wave of resident complaints regarding constant industrial noise, rising power bills, and the fumes of massive emergency diesel backup generators running during local outages. Loudoun officials have openly admitted they are hitting a ‘saturation point’ and are actively researching data center moratoriums to regain control.

We do not want to become Loudoun County. We want to be Lee County—a place that protects its water, secures its power grid, and listens to its residents before a crisis happens, not after the damage is permanently done.”

Question #7 – For every $1.00 paid in property taxes by the average homeowner in Lee County, they incur approximately $1.40 in county services; for every $1.00 paid in property taxes by industry they incur approximately .45 cents in County services; (Using Loudon County’s numbers) for every $1.00 in property taxes paid by their data centers they incur approximately .04 cents in County services. How do you propose we fund future needs to cover Lee County’s continuing growth?

“Commissioner Smith, looking only at county budget line items ignores the massive, hidden tax that data centers force families to pay through their monthly utility bills.

While data centers require very few direct county services like schools or parks, they demand an astronomical amount of community infrastructure. To support a 90-megawatt mega-campus, utility companies must construct massive new power substations, high-voltage transmission lines, and heavy-duty water treatment facilities. Duke Energy and local water authorities do not absorb those multi-million-dollar costs—they pass them directly onto local families and small businesses through higher monthly rates.

Furthermore, mega data centers rarely pay full property taxes. They routinely demand massive, long-term tax abatements and specialized state equipment tax exemptions as a condition of building here. When a corporation gets a tax break on billions of dollars in computers, the promised revenue windfall shrinks dramatically.

We fund Lee County’s future growth through balanced, high-utility economic development. We court high-paying manufacturing, logistics, and tech businesses that bring hundreds of actual jobs, stimulate our local housing market, and generate sales tax when employees shop at our local small businesses. True economic health means growing our economy with companies that invest in our people, rather than a single industry that locks up our land, strains our grid, and leaves our citizens to pay the difference on their utility bills.”

Question #8 – With the current lawsuit brought against Chatham County’s data center moratorium by the developers at the proposed Moncure Mega Site.  Who will fund Lee County’s legal defense and/or any potential financial penalties against the County, if we enact a moratorium?

“Commissioner Smith, the county’s standard insurance and general fund will cover the nominal costs of a legal defense—but the real question is: Who will fund the millions in infrastructure damage and diminished property values if we don’t enact a pause?

Using a developer’s lawsuit in a neighboring county as a scare tactic to paralyze Lee County is an affront to our local autonomy. North Carolina General Statute § 160D-107 explicitly grants local governments the legal right to enact temporary moratoriums to review outdated land-use regulations. Dozens of forward-thinking North Carolina localities—including Chatham County, Orange County, Apex, and Wendell—have lawfully exercised this exact right.

When a multi-billion-dollar corporate interest uses aggressive litigation to force its way into a community against public consent, it is a bully tactic designed to make us surrender without a fight. Local governments regularly defend their zoning authority in court as part of standard operations, shielded by municipal risk pools.

Suggesting that Lee County should govern out of fear of being sued is a recipe for exploitation. If we bow to the threat of a lawsuit today, we signal to every predatory developer that our regulations are for sale to the highest bidder. Enacting a temporary moratorium isn’t a legal gamble—it is a lawful, responsible pause to protect our water, our power grid, and the long-term financial security of Lee County’s taxpayers.”

Question #9 – How do you justify petition signers from outside Lee County?

“Commissioner Smith, the overwhelming majority of the 2,524 signers on the petition are either residents or property owners in Lee County. We can justify the few other signatures because environmental impacts, water resources, and our regional power grid do not stop at a county line—and what happens on Lower Moncure Road directly impacts our neighbors.

The proposed mega data center site sits right on the border of Lee and Chatham counties, deeply impacting the entire Cape Fear River basin and the regional infrastructure we all share. When a massive facility threatens regional water tables, demands heavy energy loads from a shared power grid, and creates noise pollution that travels for miles, it becomes a regional issue. Our neighbors in Chatham, Wake, and Harnett counties have every right to voice their concerns, just as Lee County residents would if a massive industrial project were placed right on our borders.

Our water resources do not stop at a county line—and what happens on Lower Moncure Road directly impacts our shared regional supply.Through TriRiver Water, Lee County operates a regional utility network that services and supplies water to neighbors across Chatham County, Pittsboro, Siler City, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina. When a massive mega-scale data center threatens to drain millions of gallons of water from a unified regional grid—already facing seasonal water restrictions— it ceases to be a localized issue.

Our regional neighbors have every right to sign this petition because they share the exact same risk of utility depletion. This is not an isolated local dispute; it is a unified regional stand to protect the shared water infrastructure that sustains us all.

Furthermore, many of these out-of-county signers are Lee County property owners, taxpayers, business stakeholders, or family members who care about the future of this community. Trying to invalidate a petition because it includes regional voices is a classic divide-and-conquer tactic. This isn’t an isolated local dispute— it is a unified regional stand for responsible growth, transparent governance, and the protection of the shared natural resources that sustain us all.”

Question #10 – Why should I take seriously the over 2,000 signatures (many outside the County) as Lee County’s population is pushing toward 68,000 residents?”

“Commissioner Smith, you should take those 2,524 signatures seriously because they represent the actively engaged heart of our community—and ignoring them because they aren’t the majority is the exact opposite of representative leadership. In local government, a petition of over 2,500 unified voices is an extraordinary, historic showing of public concern. Local elections in Lee County are regularly decided by just a few hundred votes, meaning 2,500 passionate, organized residents represent a massive, influential portion of the voting electorate. Counting the thousands of children, unregistered voters, and disengaged residents who have not yet heard about this backroom deal as a silent endorsement of a mega data center is deeply misleading.

Furthermore, these 2,500 signatures were gathered in just a matter of days following the June 15 petition filing. They are the frontline warning of a rapidly growing community movement. Dismissing thousands of your neighbors as statistically insignificant isn’t fiscal conservatism; it is political arrogance. True leadership does not wait for a full crisis or a 100% majority to act—it listens when thousands of citizens stand up, do their homework, and sound the alarm to protect their home.”

Lee County’s growth debate is ultimately about communication and mutual respect. At the recent, room-filled Board meeting, every resident who spoke shared careful, data-driven research on the harmful data center impacts. Yet, at the conclusion of the hearing, Mr. Kirk Smith was heard to say they were not telling the truth.

It is disheartening to hear a former chairman disregard his neighbors this way. The families backing the June 15 petition are not adversaries; we are taxpayers who care deeply about Lee County where we are raising our children and grandchildren.

We believe other commissioners now realize that this planning process was seriously flawed. Trust with the community was broken. Mr. Smith does not speak for them. The citizens don’t believe anything said about this data center project now.  We urge our leaders to look past Mr. Smith’s remarks, listen to the community, and grant a temporary moratorium simply to amend our UDO. A brief pause is a common-sense step that allows us to work together to protect Lee County’s future.

In addition, we hope our individual commissioners now will publicly speak out and say that this data center application, under these circumstances, is a mistake for these companies, and this county. Their spoken words can send a powerful message to our community and to the business leaders of PointOne Data Centers and CyrusOne that this project in Lee County, North Carolina is, and will continue to be, a bad long-term investment.

God bless Lee County,

Eric Evenson

Concerned Citizens of Lee County

July 28, 2026

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