The Kernersville Board of Aldermen voted this week to impose a six-month pause on the acceptance, processing, or approval of zoning regulations for new data centers and related operations.

Taking effect on Wednesday, the temporary moratorium is set to expire in late February unless the town adopts new zoning regulations addressing such uses before then.

Town staff recommended the measure as Kernersville reviews its Unified Development Ordinance to determine whether additional regulations are needed for data centers. 

The current ordinance contains few provisions specifically addressing these facilities, explained Town Manager Curtis Swisher. He noted that data centers can vary considerably in size, with some Triad-area facilities measuring 100,000 to 200,000 square feet and larger locations encompassing hundreds of acres and more than 1 million square feet. 

Under existing regulations, there are areas in Kernersville where data centers could potentially locate.

“This may or may not be a problem,” Swisher said, adding that the moratorium does not reflect a determination by the town that data centers themselves are either beneficial or harmful. 

The six-month period will allow the town to study potential impacts and determine whether current regulations need to be strengthened.

Among issues staff expects to examine are water consumption, electricity usage, and noise, particularly if a proposed data center would be located near residential or other commercial properties. 

During discussion with members of the board, Swisher confirmed that Kernersville would consider issues and concerns being addressed by other communities in the area already dealing with proposed data-center developments. 

Given the limited contiguous acreage within the town’s limits, he noted that the likeliest scenario would involve smaller facilities within existing industrial parks or commercial properties. Such a possibility would make existing land-use regulations particularly important, since some of those areas are relatively close to residential neighborhoods. 

He further clarified that he was not aware of any current expressions of interest from data-center developers in a Kernersville location.

The moratorium was unanimously approved by the board.

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