Developer responds to lawsuit challenging Stokes data center

Developers behind a massive data center project in Stokes County, North Carolina are responding to a lawsuit challenging the county's approval of the project. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs allege that Stokes County did not follow state-mandated procedures when it approved a rezoning measure for the data center back in January. They are asking a judge to void the county's decision. In a statement, Engineered Land Solutions, the developer, warned that blocking the project "could mean no raises for teachers, higher taxes for residents as the county budget grows, and no chance at jobs for the many people who have reached out asking for them." However, the plaintiffs' attorney, Anne Harvey David of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said she has not seen evidence to support the company's tax revenue claims and argues that the response sidesteps the real issue - that the county "broke the law" in approving the project. The community reaction to the data center proposal has largely been negative, with hundreds of residents chanting "we don't want this" as the county board voted to approve the project. The controversy also led to the defeat of two incumbent county commissioners running for re-election in the Republican primary.