Lee County Company, ECO TIP West wins Chatham County data center moratorium lawsuit

A Chatham County court ruling in a case brought by Lee County-based ECO TIP West challenged the county’s 2026 data center moratorium, a decision that could have implications for similar zoning disputes in North Carolina. Lee County citizens are petitioning now against a data center “business park” at 4079 Lower Moncure Road only nine minutes from the Chatham County data center site.

Both parties in the data center lawsuit were notified last week that the Lee County data center company, ECO TIP West, won its case against the Chatham County moratorium.

Kirk Bradley of Lee County manages ECO TIP West, owns Lee-Moore Oil Company and is a member of the UNC Board of Governors.

ECO TIP West alleged that the moratorium improperly blocked its planned 750-megawatt cryptocurrency-mining data center at the Moncure mega site, where the property had been zoned for heavy industry since 1969. The site is approximately 450 acres off Pea Ridge Road and Old U.S. Highway 1 in Chatham County, Moncure, North Carolina. The data center, his attorneys argued, was allowed “by right” under the table of uses. The company said it had invested about $11.3 million in the project since beginning approvals in 2022.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle IP, ECO TIP West’s data center is part of the Triangle Innovation Point (formerly called the Moncure Megasite) and altogether spans over 2,150 acres in Chatham County.

Chatham County enacted its moratorium in Feb. 2026 to pause permitting while it updated zoning and land-use regulations to address resource and environmental impacts from high-capacity data infrastructure.

This was North Carolina’s first case to contest a data center moratorium and will likely impact future rulings in similar cases.

“I am very disappointed in Judge Morris’s ruling. I cannot comment further until the County has reviewed all legal options; however, in the meantime, it is important to remember that Chatham County adopted the moratorium to temporarily pause data center construction while we develop zoning regulations to address the impact of these intensive land uses. Such regulations are important to protect the quality of life for Chatham County residents and the environment. That matters not only to Chatham, but to every local government in the state that is committed to its residents,” wrote Chatham County Commissioner Karen A. Howard in an email to Sandhills News.

View Case No. 26CV000456-180 here.

The rendered opinion by the ruling judge has not yet been made public.

Read The real story behind Lower Moncure Road and the data center proposal to understand the significance of this ruling and how it may impact Lee County residents.

Sept. 18, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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