US counties are desperately trying to stop data centers from taking over: A look at how Charlotte, Pima County, and Guildford County are dealing with the onslaught - with an interesting catch

• Guilford County, Pima County, and Charlotte are pausing new data centers, but none of the pauses currently affect projects already under construction
• Pima County, AZ, has passed a 120-day pause that does not affect existing projects, even as its legality remains disputed
• Charlotte, NC, wants to extend its 150-day pause by 11 months to October 2027, and Guilford County, NC, holds an October 15 hearing on a moratorium of up to 180 days, even though it has no pending data center applications

In less than two weeks of September 2026, three local governments in two states moved against new data centers, with one passing to date: Pima County, Arizona, adopted one on September 22 and, within a week, the Goldwater Institute said it was illegal.

Guilford County, North Carolina, voted on September 17 to hold a hearing on a moratorium on September 28, and Charlotte set a hearing on extending its own pause into October 2027, a net increase of 11 months, should it pass.

The moves come amid backlash from residents as local officials scramble to keep hyperscale campuses out of cities otherwise earmarked for large buildouts because of cheap land, electricity, lax local laws, or a desirable mix of all three.

A pause with nothing to pause

Guilford County, North Carolina, has not paused anything yet despite its Board of Commissioners voting unanimously to schedule an October 15 public hearing on a temporary moratorium of up to 180 days on new data center projects. This is for two reasons: the ordinance still needs to be drafted, heard, and potentially adopted.

The other reason, somewhat ironically, is simply because there is no actual project to stop or pause to begin with. Planning Director Leslie Bell told the board the county has no pending building permits or other requests for a new data center in its unincorporated areas, the Rhino Times reported. It seems to be laying the groundwork to prevent future legal challenges. This, however, comes as more North Carolina cities and towns push data center moratoriums, with Bell putting the number at over 18.

Pine County, Arizona, has taken a more nuanced, albeit somewhat underwhelming, approach. As the only of the three counties we are covering with an active moratorium in place, it also has one that does not address the projects residents have raised as an issue at meetings.

The moratorium passed on September 22, when its Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to pause new data center development in unincorporated areas for 120 days, fails to cover two key projects already underway: Project Blue and Project Gravel. The county's proposal still faces a potential legal challenge, as the Goldwater Institute sent a demand letter asking the county to rescind the pause altogether.

Charlotte, North Carolina, whose council voted 11-0 on June 8 to pause new data centers for 150 days, is considering buying even more time to make a final decision beyond the four months it has already spent.

On September 28, the council set an October 12 public hearing on extending the pause by 11 months, through October 11, 2027, the Charlotte Observer reported. At-large Council member Dimple Ajmera called it "one of the consequential policy decisions that we will be making."

The problem is more complex: data centers are allowed by right in eight of Charlotte's zoning districts, so they need no council approval there, and council members have raised concerns about that gap since at least 2023, but a policy review has yet to address it. As Deputy City Manager Alyson Craig told a council committee in September, there was no clear path for ordinance changes.

The problems of each county are different, but one could argue that they are considerably similar in the way that all of them are looking to address a gap in the rulebook rather than a wave of upcoming projects at a time when there is increased interest by hyperscalers to find cheap land with cheaper, readily available access to water and power.

While rulebooks can be updated, local governments have to wrestle with the tradeoff: data centers will create few long-term jobs, but they can offer high taxable value in some cases through local taxation, in addition to the power and water bills they will inevitably generate.

At the same time, residents who voted said councils in are concerned about potentially higher power bills and limited access to water, resulting in a perfect storm where legal challenges like the one from the Goldwater Institute only add to the chaos for counties that have never had the legislature to handle such issues in the past.

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