News

For a second time, Rocky Mount City Council declined to vote on the rezoning proposal that would open up city-owned land to a data center.

Originally scheduled for the May 11 meeting of the council, postponed during that meeting, then rescheduled for the June 8 meeting, the vote was again pushed to a future, yet-to-be-determined date.

“I’d just like to highlight, again, the issue of transparency around the local government decision-making process,” said Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman.  “We were told twice now that this decision would be on the agenda, and it, again, was not.”

In the June meeting, council did vote to annex the 117 acres located on Arrow and Dozier roads near Nash Community College, however the City announced the vote to rezone the property from commercial to heavy industrial would not take place as scheduled.

Katey said the process, and lack of information, has been frustrating.

“It makes it really difficult for true community input and involvement,” Katey said. “We don’t have any indication now of when this decision is going to happen, so we’ll just have to stay vigilant by checking each agenda and stay in ‘ready mode’ to turn out to the meeting.”

The City of Rocky Mount has released no information about the data center to the public, and it was only the industry buzzwords in the rezoning proposal that alerted residents to the prospect of data center.

Concerns about data centers include massive energy and water consumption that strain local infrastructure, depletion of water resources particularly in areas hit by drought, noise and air- and water-quality impacts, all of which have led to some municipalities and counties across North Carolina to declare moratoriums on their construction until more information about impacts can be learned.

“We’ll do our best to keep everyone informed about the Rocky Mount data center,” Katey said.

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