City considers ordinance on potential data center
Lumberton is developing an ordinance to regulate a potential small-scale data center at Southeast Crossroads Industrial Park, although the city has not approved or committed to a project. The proposal is tied to pending annexation and rezoning actions and has prompted a public meeting as residents raise concerns about water, electricity, noise and health impacts.
The City of Lumberton is preparing an ordinance governing a potential small-scale data center at Southeast Crossroads Industrial Park near interstates 95 and 74. The draft was approved by the city planning board and is scheduled for consideration by the City Council, alongside annexation of the site and a rezoning to the M-2 heavy manufacturing district. The ordinance would address energy and water use, stormwater, natural resources, noise, air quality, setbacks and buffers, while limiting development to the industrial park and allowing no more than one data center.
City Manager Wayne Horne and council members Eric Chavis and John Cantey emphasized that no data center has been approved and that the ordinance is intended only to establish rules if a developer proceeds. A potential proposal, identified in a city memo as Project Alps, could involve a 10- to 50-acre site, 50 megawatts of power, an investment of $550 million to $750 million and 10 to 20 jobs. Residents and local organizers, including Concerned Citizens for Better Government, the Robeson County NAACP and the Robeson County Cooperative for Sustainable Development, planned a community meeting to seek more information and express concerns about resource use and the pace of decision-making.