A Data Center Is a Building Full of Servers. Monday Is Not a Deal.
Or - Don't Be Facebook Sheep.
Beaufort County votes Oct. 5 on a one-year pause on data-center applications. No company has applied. Here is how the machine works, what the Sept. 14 packet says, and the numbers to demand.
Learn the machine before you pick a side.
What a data center is.
A data center is a building, or a campus of buildings, built to hold computer servers plus the electrical and cooling gear those servers need. The U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program puts it plainly: these facilities use large amounts of energy to process data and to stay cool while they do it. Electricity is the main input. Servers turn most of that power into heat. Cooling rejects the heat with moving air, with liquid, or with both. DOE tracks that with power usage effectiveness and, where water is used, water usage effectiveness. Jobs split the same way. Building the shell is construction. Running it is a smaller crew. This county has published neither count, because it has no project.
The data we actually have on Beaufort.
The county notice posted Sept. 13, 2026, says the official hearing and vote on a one-year moratorium "on the acceptance, processing, and approval of applications for data center developments" moved to October. Sept. 14 was comments only. No vote. The final hearing, discussion, and vote are Monday, Oct. 5, at 5:30 p.m., 136 W. Second Street, Washington. Staff will not take written comments sent ahead of time. Speak in person, or send someone to read your words. A sign-up sheet goes on the podium.
As of Sept. 29, Agenda Center lists Sept. 14 and does not list an Oct. 5 meeting or packet. Do not invent the paper they will vote on.
The Sept. 14 packet does hold a draft ordinance by that title. It was not adopted. The signature block still says "Adopted this 14th day of September, 2026." Nobody signed it.
Section 1 would stop the county, for one year from the effective date, from accepting, processing, or approving applications to build, expand, or operate a data center, from building permits through utility extensions and development agreements. Section 4 limits that pause to unincorporated Beaufort County. Section 5, printed for a meeting that did not vote, would have run Sept. 14, 2026, to Sept. 14, 2027. An Oct. 5 vote can move those dates.
The draft defines the term. A server building counts if it meets one or more tests, including electrical service of 1 megawatt or more, or five acres or more. That 1 megawatt is a definition line, not a project load. There is no project.
County Manager Tim Corley told the Sept. 14 meeting the county has "not been approached by any data center folks" and is not talking to developers, the Washington Daily News reported. He also said Beaufort has no county zoning, and that the next job is to decide whether these buildings belong here and where. The draft still says "current zoning regulations." Both lines are on the record. They do not match.
WITN reported that Sept. 14 speakers named noise, emissions, and electricity costs, and that several wanted longer than a year. Chairman Frankie Waters and Corley said state law caps a moratorium at 12 months. The draft cites G.S. 160D-107. That statute does not say "12 months." It says the length must be reasonable and no longer than needed to fix the problem that justified the pause. Ask which sentence the board is using.
For scale only: WCTI reported Farmville adopted a 12-month moratorium in August 2026, and Pitt County has none. The county utilities page lists five electric providers, not one: Washington Electric Utilities, Tideland EMC, Duke Energy in the southwest corner, the Town of Belhaven, and Dominion Energy in the northwest. Duke's Nov. 20, 2025 statewide filing names data centers as one reason for new grid work. It is not a Beaufort load. Ask which provider would serve a site, and who pays.
Questions to ask Monday
Power. With no applicant, what load in megawatts is under study, and which utility serves it? What does the 1-megawatt definition catch?
Water. Air, water, or both, and whose water? The draft lists groundwater, public supply, and surface water as open study items.
Who pays. If a line, a substation, or a water main has to be built, does the project pay, or do existing customers?
Jobs and taxes. Construction jobs versus jobs that stay, and any tax break. There is no applicant. An empty chair is not a term sheet.
The pause. The draft covers unincorporated areas and was dated to start Sept. 14. What dates will Monday's motion use, and who reports the study in public?
Why it matters:
This vote would stop the clock on a class of buildings while the county writes rules it does not have. No applicant. No zoning map to put one on. The draft's own study list already names the blanks: substations, who pays, bills, water, prime farmland, noise, and the jobs that last.
Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, 5:30 p.m., 136 W. Second Street, Washington. Hearing, then discussion, then a vote. Sign the sheet on the podium. The Sept. 14 notice told residents to call Katie Mosher at 252-946-0079. If the packet is still missing when you leave the house, say that on the record.
We'll keep watching what matters, not just what's loud. Stay informed. Stay free.
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