“Artificial intelligence” may be the watchword in computer technology these days. But it’s old-fashioned human intelligence that Alamance County’s administrators are seeking as they begin to shape a new set of rules for data centers in unincorporated parts of the county.
Alamance County’s manager Heidi York informed the county’s board of commissioners on Monday that she and her colleagues have begun to assemble an advisory board to weigh in on these proposed regulations.
“Most of seats on this committee will be for designated areas of expertise such as utilities, power, and emergency services,” she added. “We haven’t decided on a slate of folks for you to consider yet…and hopefully, we can bring you some options to consider.”
The commissioners, for their part, had previously imposed a moratorium on new data centers in order to allow county officials to craft regulations for large-scale server farms.
At this point, the rural reaches of Alamance County have been all but ignored by data center developers due to an absence of public water to cool these high-tech leviathans.
Lately, however, some rural residents have grown increasingly alarmed that the county’s loose regulations may serve as an open invitation to facilities that are experiencing more regulatory pressure in other parts of the state. This angst has only been aggravated by plans for two residential developments that propose to use community wells to establish themselves in the unincorporated community of Saxapahaw.
In response to these concerns, the commissioners unanimously voted to place a one-year moratorium on new data centers in August. In the meantime, they directed county staff members to begin work on a set of proposed rules to govern the development of server farms outside the county’s cities and towns.
York’s mention on Monday of a data center advisory board has been first major development in the rule-writing process since the commissioners adopted the moratorium over the summer.
The county manager told the commissioners that, in addition various subject matter experts, the new ad hoc committee could also include a commissioner or two as well as some “at large community members.” She added that if the commissioners want to reserve seats for ordinary residents, the county’s administrators will need to set up an application process for any would-be appointees.
This particular option seemed to strike a chord with commissioner Pam Thompson, who had originally put the question of data center development on the agenda of the county’s governing board.
“I think it’s real important for people from the community to sit on it as well,” Thompson said during Monday’s proceedings. “It’s very important that they have a voice in it.”
Commissioner Ed Priola said that he’d like to hear options from experts “both pro and con” about issues surrounding “rising technology.”
Kelly Allen, the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, added that she plans to consult with officials in Rockingham County, who have been bracing themselves for their own major data center development.
Meanwhile, commissioner Sam Powell said that he wouldn’t mind including municipal leaders in this conversation event though the county’s proposed rules wouldn’t affect projects in their own jurisdictions.
“What we’re talking about is dealing with data centers outside of the incorporated areas,” he stressed. “But what we’re talking about will impact all of us, so I hope that as we go through the process, we involve the municipalities as well.”
York told the commissioners that she plans to present them with some suggestions regarding the ad hoc committee when they convene in December.
