Jonathan Boyce launches Lee County Commissioner campaign amid data center debate

Jonathan Boyce’s Sept. 12 campaign kick-off rally in Moncure attracted about 70 supporters who pledged to promote and spread awareness of his campaign for Lee County Commissioner in District 2.

The campaign comes as residents continue to raise questions about data center regulations, the county’s Uniform Development Ordinance (UDO) and the administrative review process.

Boyce’s transparency is clear from the start with the identification of his political stance of unaffiliated. He is competing against Republican Kirk Smith, the former chairman who is now a plain commissioner.

The write-in candidate’s name, JONATHAN BOYCE, must be handwritten on the ballot, AND voters must fill in the oval. Early voting begins in Oct.

Attorney Eric Evenson introduced Boyce and the ongoing battle over the county’s management of establishing stronger regulations for a data center.

Boyce is determined, like Evenson, for citizens to live in peace and knows stronger regulations need to be placed on data centers.

“We are in a spiritual battle. I’ve dedicated my life to helping victims of crime. Don’t worry,” Evenson said about the data center originally introduced as a single Cumnock project, now planned for Moncure as a light industry business park with multiple units.

The Moncure area is home to an array of wildlife coexisting peacefully near single-family homes, fourth-generation farms, horse farms and churches.

Evenson explained that Lee County Commissioners were concerned with packed meetings of citizens sharing concerns about the pending data center. The next meeting is Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Lee County Library.

The commissioners had previously considered amending the UDO protocol for data centers but recently backed out of amending it, and the mention of a moratorium by Commissioner Robert Reives was scratched over rules of order.

“Because the county attorney is scared of being sued [by the developer],” Evenson said about why the conversation on data center UDO revisions halted and there was no moratorium.

On August 17, Lee County Commissioners abandoned their leadership roles when they sent a resolution to the General Assembly to regulate data centers and announced Lee County’s data center application will be reviewed and approved administratively by the planning department, and it will not return to the board of commissioners for a vote.

One issue with the resolution is that the General Assembly is influenced by lobbyists compensated to advocate for businesses like data centers.

Boyce declared his intention to work for the common good between party lines. “Now we can see how people running the government are running our lives. I will run against all odds and listen to all.”

Evenson said Boyce’s mission was to amend the UDO on data centers so people can live in peace in their homes.

Boyce participated in the Sandhills News Q & A, covering specific issues Lee County faces. Read Meet Lee County Commissioner Candidate Jonathan Boyce to view his business management skills woven with answers depicting a godly worldview and his call to serve the community.

Learn more about Boyce at https://boyceforleecounty.com/

Jamie Laudate

Experienced politician Jamie Laudate, a former school board member and proponent of technology in the classroom, is running for Lee County Commissioner for District 4. He said he was at the commissioners’ meeting when Reives called for a moratorium. The board did not vote because it was not on the agenda. Laudate supports a data center moratorium.

Laudate’s website does not identify his political affiliation.

April Montgomery

Lee County resident since 1999, April Montgomery, is unaffiliated, as indicated on her website, and is running for the State House of Representatives in District 51. Her website reads, “As chair of the Sanford Area Growth Alliance, Lee County Parks and Recreation Board, and Lee County Environmental Affairs Board, she has honed the ability to listen to diverse perspectives and find common ground.”

Montgomery said she will fight to retract the law on downsizing, wants to introduce a bill forcing developers to pay impact fees, and said she will find out how the Magneti Marelli (MM) plant in Sanford on Nash Street, with its expensive environmental hazard state-mandated remediation (paid by taxpayers) with no known expiration date for final clean up was approved for purchased by Lee County Government. Montgomery said the college had been trying to buy the MM property for a long time. It joins the college property.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) reports on MM identify many hazardous chemicals, solvents and violations. MM’s NCDEQ reports, NCD060299880, are public records available to everyone.

NCDEQ records show Lee County purchased the former manufacturing property in July 2021, despite publicly documented environmental concerns.

The Nov. 2, 2020, NCDEQ NCD060299880 report shares, “This [stormwater] runoff was known to have been contaminated by spillage of electroplating sludge from the Old Pretreatment Former Drum Storage Area (SWMU 22).”

The Nov. 20, 2020, MM NCDEQ report shares, “remediation is required at the Former Waste Stoddard Solvent Tank (SWMU 17).”

The NCDEQ website has continually made public the contamination and necessary remediation efforts.

In July 2021, Lee County Government purchased the property for $7.4 million for Central Carolina Community College’s E. Eugene Moore Manufacturing and Biotech Solutions Center, with a $600,000 deposit for ongoing cleanup.

The North Carolina Department of Environment lists hazardous waste sites and notes that the MM Stoddard tank had a historic leak beginning in 1988 but was not removed until March 2022, and in Oct. 2022, found carcinogens in the wells.

During the due diligence period of the real estate transaction for MM, Lee County Government read the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment prepared by Timmons Group of Raleigh for MAD M & R LLC, which filed for incorporation on Feb. 12, 2021. MAD M & R LLC is a development company operated by Sanford residents: Mark Davenport and Mark Lyczkowski and Whitsett resident, Ray Covington.

Read NC industrial sites threaten water and soil: Why oversight committees matter.

Montgomery shared her thoughts on an alternative form of local government, first saying that something needed to change.

Read Editorial: North Carolina proposal would replace political management with professional local government.

Sept. 16, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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