While the Charlotte City Council decides whether to extend its pause on new data centers, the two biggest projects in the city's pipeline are already under construction.
The pause can't stop them. Council approved both rezonings before it took effect, and a city staff presentation in June listed both as exempt under state law. County inspectors have been approving footing work at Digital Realty's Moores Chapel Road campus since June and at the PowerHouse campus off University City Boulevard since September.
What the two campuses must do once they run is less settled. Only Moores Chapel is required to use closed-loop cooling, which recirculates its coolant rather than consuming it. The University City plan has no cooling or water-use rule. Both sit outside city limits, and the city did not answer by Friday's deadline whether a change to its noise ordinance would reach them.
Council is scheduled to consider extending the pause at its Oct. 26 business meeting. The current pause ends Nov. 5. Residents spoke on the extension at an Oct. 12 public hearing.
Both are under construction
At Moores Chapel Road, Brasfield & Gorrie holds the county permit for the structure and exterior of a building the project calls CLT13. The county lists 123 approved or partly approved inspections on it, starting with footings June 4. The campus is approved for up to 3 million square feet of data center space in up to five buildings.
Off University City Boulevard, DPR Construction holds the same kind of permit for "Building 1," with 19 approved or partly approved inspections since footings and foundations Sept. 3. That campus is approved for up to 2.5 million square feet of data center space, plus an electric substation planned in coordination with Duke Energy.
The city's June list names the University City project "AREP Powerhouse." PowerHouse Data Centers, a subsidiary of American Real Estate Partners, markets a 122-acre Charlotte campus with up to four buildings and up to 380 megawatts of utility power, with construction and delivery planned through the end of 2028.
Water: one rule, one blank
The Moores Chapel plan says: "The petitioner commits to a closed-loop cooling system for the data center use." The city's staff analysis says Charlotte Water has a 12-inch main along Moores Chapel Road for the site. Digital Realty did not answer by Friday's deadline when asked how much water the campus will use and whether any will come from groundwater.
The University City plan sets no condition on cooling or water use. Asked what cooling system the campus will use and how much water it will need, a media relations manager at JSA, PowerHouse's public relations firm, said the company had no additional information to share.
Noise: the open question
Both campuses are in Charlotte's extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ: unincorporated land just outside the city where Charlotte handles zoning. The 2026 county tax bills for the Moores Chapel parcel and a University City campus parcel carry ETJ fire and law enforcement charges and no city tax.
At the Oct. 12 hearing, Terrie Hagler-Gray, an assistant city attorney supervisor, told council that "noise would likely apply to the existing data centers." The city's noise ordinance covers "unreasonably loud and disturbing noise in the city." Asked whether a change to that ordinance would reach the two campuses, the city did not answer by Friday's deadline.
The University City plan requires sound mitigation, such as berms, acoustic panels and equipment yards that face inward, "in addition to compliance with the noise ordinance," without saying which ordinance. The Moores Chapel plan has no noise condition. Digital Realty did not answer when asked what the nearest homes should expect to hear, generators included.
Under state law, the pause does not apply to either campus.
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