A packed room of Greenwood County residents urged County Council on Tuesday to slow down on data center regulations as council formally introduced a proposed one-year moratorium on the approval of data centers and related infrastructure.
Ordinance 2026-25, sponsored by Councilmembers Mark Allison, Cathy Miller and Vice Chairman Dayne Pruitt, received first reading in title only during Tuesday’s meeting. Miller was not in attendance.
The ordinance proposes a temporary 12-month moratorium on the approval of data centers and related infrastructure within Greenwood County.
Before public comment began, Pruitt said he believed the county should consider allowing more time to study data centers and review the county’s ordinances.
“I felt like at this point that the best thing that I felt like we should consider at this point would be a 12-month moratorium to do a deeper dive study on data centers,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt concluded with saying he has concerns about rural development district zoning and said the county may need to consider whether data centers should be limited to a specific zoning district.
“My concerns about RDD are the amount of properties that are in Greenwood County, I hope there is a possibility if it’s allowed to maybe create a single zone for data centers, that way we would know going in,” Pruitt said.
Chairman Theo Lane also addressed public comments that he opposed the moratorium, saying he did not try to block the ordinance from being placed on the agenda.
“If I had been opposed to this, I would try to block this meeting on the agenda,” Lane said. “I did not, because I believe that, based on the conversation and comments that we’ve had in the public forums and at our last County Council meeting, that this does need the full due process, whether it’s voted up or down.”
The moratorium was the focus of public comment Tuesday, with nine residents signed up to speak on the ordinance.
Public comment
William Leslie asked council to conduct a more thorough review before moving ahead with permanent zoning rules.
“What’s the harm in a thorough review?” Leslie said. “What is the harm in looking at or visiting other cities with data centers to understand the good and the bad impacts? What is the harm in working with the state to align regulations?”
Lane told Leslie that county officials would be traveling out of state next week to visit a data center and speak with government leaders and residents. Leslie questioned whether that would provide enough time before council’s next meeting.
“That doesn’t give you much time to learn anything and put what you learned into effect,” Leslie said.
Lane added county staff has also been working on additions to the proposed data center text amendment since the county had a public hearing for the ordinance on June 2.
Debbie Turner said she believed the county’s proposed text amendment was not strong enough to address possible concerns related to noise, setbacks, heat, energy demand and fire suppression systems.
“We want you, we expect you to close the door, so the public can determine exactly what is in that other hand, and consider options,” Turner said. “This is the only reasonable way to satisfy your fiduciary duty to protect public health and zoning integrity.”
Walter Kimble spoke in favor of the one-year moratorium, saying the county needs time to gather more information and avoid taking a “cookie cutter” approach.
“In short, as I see it, it gives us time, in layman’s terms, to let the dust settle,” Kimble said.
Tina Escalona, speaking as a member of Greenwood County Residents for Responsible Growth, said the group includes more than 1,200 members and represents a range of views, from residents opposed to data centers altogether to those who believe data centers could be allowed under strict standards.
“I think that what you’re hearing over and over again, and what we said from the very first meeting, was that we need information, we need good information,” Escalona said. “We think that this is too complex, that we don’t think that we as a body have all of the information to make the decisions today.”
Escalona said the county should use the moratorium period to study data centers using information beyond what is provided by developers.
“There needs to be an unbiased analytical review,” Escalona said. “You need to look at the data centers in Georgia, data centers in the different states, take a look at the evolution of the problems, how they solved some problems, also the evolution of the standards.”
Adam Jackson thanked council for considering the moratorium and said the county should make sure it understands what it is getting into before any data centers are approved.
“Once we do it, we’re stuck with it,” Jackson said.
Kelli Eberhardt said the moratorium would give council time to review lessons from other locations, including Spartanburg County, where concerns have been raised about water and power usage tied to data center development.
“We can’t put an amendment forth to protect ourselves if we don’t fully understand what we are protecting ourselves from,” Eberhardt said. “The moratorium gives time to understand health concerns as well as utility concerns.”
Dave Schofield, who said he moved to Ninety Six from Loudoun County, Virginia, said he lived near Ashburn, part of what is known as “Data Center Alley.” He urged council to review Loudoun County’s regulations and lessons learned.
“I think you all have made a great choice to take a moratorium now and go ahead and take the time to do this right now,” Schofield said.
Russ Fitzgerald also supported a moratorium, but added he would prefer a 24-month. He added the county’s Planning Commission had recommended a 24-month moratorium and that other communities have approved or considered similar pauses.
The Planning Commission voted May 27 to recommend denial of Ordinance 2026-19, the county’s proposed data center text amendment, and recommended County Council consider a 24-month moratorium.
Ordinance 2026-19 would establish zoning standards and development requirements for any future data center seeking to locate in Greenwood County.
The county previously announced third reading of the text amendment would be moved from the June 16 meeting to July 7 to allow additional time to review feedback from council members and the public.
The second reading and public hearing for the proposed moratorium are also expected to be July 7.
After public comment, Lane moved Ordinance 2026-25 up on the agenda and read it into the record as first reading in title only.
“For those of you who were just here for this, I will give a few minutes for the room to clear,” Lane said.
Much of the audience left after the moratorium item.
Budgets and levies
After the moratorium item, council approved the county’s fiscal year 2026-27 operating and capital budgets on third and final reading.
Deputy County Manager for Finance Steffanie Dorn said the budget includes no millage increase. It includes a $5 road-user fee on vehicle bills, a $25 field maintenance fee at parks and recreation facilities during tournaments, a $50 increase to the dock encroachment fee for Laurens and Newberry county residents, a 10% increase in airplane hangar rent and a $15 fee to replace or receive additional airport gate cards.
The budget also includes a 13% increase to the county fire fee, a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for regular full- and part-time employees, up to a 3% merit increase for regular full-time employees and four additional sheriff’s deputies in the Uniform Control Division.
Council also heard a presentation from Dorn and County Assessor Lynn Hammond on reassessment notices expected to be mailed June 25. Dorn emphasized the notices are not tax bills, and Hammond said property owners will have 90 days from the date of the notice to appeal property values or correct property record information.
Council also unanimously approved Ordinance 2026-22, providing for the levy and appropriation of taxes for educational purposes. Dorn said school districts requested no changes to their millage rates.
Rezonings and contracts
Council also approved second readings for two rezoning requests after public hearings.
Council also approved moving forward with contract negotiations with Cianbro for repairs to Gate 2 at the Buzzard’s Roost Hydroelectric Facility, awarded the 2024-25 local paving project contract to Satterfield Construction and approved a grant application and contractor for improvements to an access road project at the Greenwood County Airport.
A six-month continuation period under the county’s special tax district policy was also approved, allowing some special tax districts additional time to address issues related to insurance, maintenance, taxes and legal fees tied to establishing homeowners associations.
Council also approved adopting a county capitalization policy, appointed special three tax district commissioners, approved a hospitality tax budget amendment for a replacement roof at the museum and approved two first readings of Bailey Bill pre-certification requests for historic property rehabilitation.
County Council’s next regular meeting on July 7 is expected to bring data center regulations back to the forefront, with the proposed moratorium set for second reading and public hearing the same night council is expected to revisit the proposed data center text amendment
Contact Renee Ortiz at 864-943-5643. Follow her on X: @By_ReneeOrtiz