Proposed Spartanburg data center project appeals after county rejects application
The Lightstone Group has appealed the rejection of its data center application in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. This appeal comes as the Spartanburg County Council delayed final approval of a proposed moratorium on new data centers, initially spurred by public opposition. The county maintains that the pending ordinance doctrine prevents approval of such applications while the moratorium is under consideration.
The Lightstone Group has appealed Spartanburg County planning staff's rejection of its development application for a 60-megawatt data center at 300 Jones Road. The appeal is scheduled for the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on August 25, addressing non-compliance with the county's unified land management ordinance.
Concurrently, the Spartanburg County Council recently delayed the third and final reading of a proposed data center moratorium, which would have paused new data center developments for at least a year. The council decided to gather more input after passing the ordinance's first two readings, following lobbying efforts from companies like Pacolet Milliken and Lockhart Power, who advocated for a moratorium only on larger data centers.
The Lightstone Group's "Project Lighthouse" initially spurred the moratorium proposal after the council, influenced by public opposition against another project (Tiger DC data center) and recent election results that saw incumbents defeated for supporting data center tax breaks, sought to limit development. Spartanburg County spokesperson Scottie Kay Blackwell confirmed that the "pending ordinance doctrine" applies, meaning no new data center applications, including Lightstone's, will be approved while the moratorium is under consideration, regardless of the administrative appeal's outcome.
The proposed facility, designed to support cloud services and emerging technologies, is planned for a site previously involved in land sales by Greenidge Generation Holdings to Data Journey LLC and ultimately to an affiliate of The Lightstone Group and LightHouse Data Centers. It is projected to use 60 megawatts of power and an estimated 12 million gallons of water annually, equivalent to about 33,000 gallons per day, a figure noted as less than some other industrial users. Spartanburg Water has not yet received detailed information regarding the project's anticipated water and/or wastewater needs.