Jasper County Council has taken its first steps towards pushing the pause button to accept any possible requests from data centers that seek to locate in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Data centers have been topics of numerous discussions among county councils across the Lowcountry as other councils are also considering moratoriums. Leaders have cited concerns over the amount of water and electricity which could be required by the centers.
A data center is a facility that houses Information Technology (IT) infrastructure which includes servers, storage systems and networking equipment which stores processes and manages digital data. The centers, according to officials, can significantly increase both electricity and water demand, consuming
millions of gallons of water annually and placing a strain on local power grids.
First reading for a moratorium to be placed on data centers being located in Jasper County was approved by Jasper County Council during its Sept. 8 meeting after lengthy discussions during the meeting.
Second reading and a public hearing for the moratorium were scheduled for Sept. 21 followed by a third reading to be scheduled for a future meeting.
Jasper County Director of Planning and Building Services Lisa Wagner came before council to explain the proposed ordinance requesting a one-year moratorium on any requests to have data centers in Jasper County.
“There’s been a growing interest in our area with the increased number of data centers seeking to locate to South Carolina,” Wagner said. “Staff believes it is appropriate to ask county council to place a temporary moratorium on the acceptance of any applications for rezoning, site plans, building permits, and any type of economic incentives for data centers, data processing facilities, cryptocurrency mining operations and any other uses associated with data processing facilities within unincorporated Jasper County.”
Wagner said the moratorium would be to prohibit any applications for development of such use as proposed for one year.
“This moratorium would allow staff to review and make sure there are adequate provisions within the Jasper County zoning ordinance and land development regulations to control the location design, size, density, land use and infrastructure needs for data centers, data processing facilities, and cryptocurrency mining operations,” she said.
Wagner said currently the county zoning ordinance permits data centers as a use by right in the community commercial, general commercial industrial development and mixed business zoning districts.
The Jasper County Planning Commission reviewed the proposed ordinance during its Aug. 11 meeting.
“The commission recommended approval of the one-year moratorium invoking the pending ordinance doctrine to allow adequate time to review the Jasper County zoning ordinance and land development regulations,” Wagner said. “This is to see if any modifications are needed to properly regulate data centers, data processing facilities, and cryptocurrency mining operations while ensuring there are no adverse impacts to the residents of Jasper County and that no significant demands are placed on the local electrical grid, water supply, or emergency services.”
Councilman Gene Ceccarelli said he wanted to hear all sides of the issue before making any decisions, explaining some information that had been sent from the Coastal Conservation League should be taken into consideration and read by county staff as decisions were made. He said the information explained important issues within it such as specific zoning for data centers and the demand placed on water, energy and land resources by the centers.
“The government’s primary role is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people; that is its primary role, and if it (data centers) cross that line, it’s definitely not favorable for me, but in fairness, I want to hear all sides of this argument,” he said.
Councilman John Kemp asked Wagner if anyone had looked at any data center ordinances and the possibility of any being located in the county recently.
“We have not and our ordinances use codes (for a possible data center) that are broad and in our use table it does not specifically address data centers,” Wagner said. “Because we use the North American Classification System (NAICS), the particular code that it (data centers) is not identified in the use charts, so then it goes up to the next sector and that would be an allowed use.
“I think size matters when it comes to these types of operations, but then again it’s just a matter of the staff needs time to review our ordinances and see how we should address these moving forward."
Wagner added that they are not proposing to ban them forever, but just to buy some time to review the ordinances.
Kemp said he wanted to make sure the ordinance would be for one year only and not keep extending into the future.
“We wanted to draft this ordinance to be just for data centers and cryptocurrency mining,” Wagner said.
Councilman Chris VanGeison said he agreed with needing to find out more about the data centers before any possible decisions were to be made.
“I think there’s a lot out there that we don’t know enough about and we just need to figure it out and do the right thing,” Van Geison said. “I think this is important for us to do this moratorium, and it may be one of the most important things we do at this point. I think these data centers are that serious.”
Councilman Joseph Arzillo asked Wagner about the ordinance and if it could be limited to only one year after other past ordinances had been extended, specifically when council discussed its moratorium on the Euhaw District for over a year.
“Invoking the pending ordinance doctrine means if it were approved tonight (for first reading), and you invoke the pending ordinance doctrine, it would stop anybody from trying to slip in an application prior to third reading,” Wagner said. “A year would be the limit as it is written. It would be lifted if anything is worked out.”
Wagner also explained no one had submitted an application as of the meeting night to ask permission to place a data center in Jasper County.
Arzillo said the topic came before council after the Coastal Conservation League brought information to council and thought it would be a good idea through staff to bring the topic before council.
“There are data centers popping up all around and near us,” Wagner said.
Arzillo said, “I think we should be flexible, but one year is fine with me (for the moratorium).”
Council chairman Joey Rowell said it was important for council to make sure they are doing their due diligence and research on the zoning and planning level when it came to the issues of water, electricity and land usage by any data center wishing to locate in Jasper County in the future.
“There’s a lot of unknowns out there, but to let everyone know and to dispel any rumors, there is not a data center coming to Levy and there are no data centers coming to rural Jasper County, and this is just for unincorporated Jasper County,” Rowell said. “This is just to push the pause button to make sure nobody slips through the cracks and make sure that if we ever decide that those are eligible to come here it meets a certain criteria.”
Rowell said, “It would be a hard no for me if it doesn’t meet all the water, electricity, environmental and noise concerns.”
“I think the moratorium is the right step in the future to make sure that we are doing right for Jasper County,” he said.
Beaufort County considering moratorium
Beaufort County Natural Resources Committee, during one of its recent meetings, unanimously voted to draft several possible moratorium ordinances concerning data centers. The ordinances would span timelines of nine months to a year. Another possible ordinance could involve a complete ban or requiring data centers to operate under heavy rules and regulations.
The committee would also plan to have workshops as well as possible special meetings if needed to discuss the matter before any votes would possibly be taken to allow the public opportunities to discuss the matter.
Following the meetings and workshops by the committee, the options could also then be presented to Beaufort County Council to be considered and possibly voted upon in the future.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: First reading approved for data center moratorium
