Spartanburg County leaders say they only recently learned of proposed data center. Some residents aren’t buying it.
Spartanburg County Council voted to direct staff to draft a one-year moratorium on data centers after a permit request was filed for a proposed facility at 300 Jones Road. Residents are questioning the timing, alleging council members knew about the project and their concerns for months, despite council claiming they only recently considered the project active. The proposed data center is a partnership between Wharton Digital and Lighthouse Data Centers.
Spartanburg County Council has voted to direct staff to draft a one-year moratorium on data centers, a move that comes amidst resident skepticism regarding the council's awareness of a proposed project. Several council members, including Jessica Coker, stated they only acted on the moratorium after a permit request was filed for a data center at 300 Jones Road, indicating they did not believe 'Project Lighthouse' was an active proposal without a permit request, especially after they decided in February not to offer tax incentives for such projects.
However, residents like Courtney McClain and Emory Caraviello assert that discussions about the proposed 151-acre data center campus, a partnership between Wharton Digital and Lighthouse Data Centers, have been public for months. Caraviello suggested the timing of the moratorium, which coincides with early voting for re-election campaigns for council members Jack Mabry and Jessica Coker, is a 'very interesting tactic' given the long-standing resident concerns. Coker maintained the timing was solely based on the project's permit application. Due to an internet outage, records related to the permit were unavailable.