Lee County residents demand pause on North Carolina data center, claiming deception

This article was originally published by NC Newsline.

SANFORD — Jeff Kidd, a Lee County farmer who raises goats and chickens, didn’t think noise or light pollution would ever be a problem in his rural neighborhood. That was before a planned business park turned into a proposal for a giant data center that would wrap around his farm.

He was one of about 150 residents who showed up to a Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night to speak against the data center. 

Kidd said people living by a CyrusOne-developed data center in Aurora, Illinois reported noise pollution of up to 80 decibels coming off of the property.

“Sounds like a helicopter landing on your house,” Kidd told the commissioners. “This is what’s going to happen to us in Lower Moncure.”

Lee County residents are demanding county commissioners take action against a proposed data center, citing concerns about noise levels and transparency with the project’s approval. 

Nearly 2,500 people have signed an online petition in support of a moratorium on data centers in Lee County, and for the commissioners to reveal relevant public records on the proposed site. They say they were misled about the project’s true nature. 

Last year, residents say, they were invited to weigh in on rezoning for what a representative from the Trustwell Property Group told county commissioners and the Lee County Planning Board would be a “light industrial business park” in Sanford.

Steve Baber, a member of Lee County planning board and a resident of Lower Moncure Road, said that although he initially voted against rezoning, he became hopeful that the business park would bring in needed taxes to the county.

“We as citizens feel like we were snookered a bit, in that it was to be light industrial,” Baber said. “There was never mention of a data center, although a data center is allowable under the light industrial zoning in Lee County.”

Trustwell, which owns the property and works with marketing agency Helix Ventures, told commissioners the project had already “been in development for about three years,” according to the petition, meaning planning began as early as late 2022. 

But on June 8, it became a hyperscale data center. That’s when Virginia-based PointOne Data Centers, a partner of Helix Ventures, announced plans for a $900 million, 90-megawatt “new technology park” with a “focus on data center development” on the same 430 acres on Lower Moncure Road in Sanford.  

PointOne has a contract with Dallas-based tech giant CyrusOne, which owns and operates over 40 data centers. Neither company nor Trustwell immediately responded to NC Newsline’s repeated requests for comment. 

About 40 people spoke in opposition to the project at a Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday. Out of about 150 attendees, no members of the public spoke in favor of the data center. 

Eric Evenson, another Lower Moncure resident, pointed out that the data center would bring in only about 40 jobs, far fewer than the 500 jobs promised in the original plan for a business park. 

“This isn’t economic growth; it’s an extraction of Lee County’s resources,” Evenson told the commissioners. “We know the members of this board are good people. You must be deeply uncomfortable with how this perceived bait-and-switch was engineered behind closed doors, like we are.”

Another key concern for residents is the low-frequency noise emitted by data centers, which some believe can negatively impact people’s and animals’ health. 

Multiple speakers brought up these concerns, citing studies that claim low frequency noise like that emitted by data centers can cause increased stress, sleep deprivation, and headaches in people living close to the centers.

The City of Sanford adapted their Unified Development Ordinance in April, specifically requiring data centers to not exceed 65 decibels (dBA) on the perimeter of their property. The ordinance also allows for independent third party testing of noise levels. 

However, speakers on Monday said that safeguard doesn’t do enough to protect residents.

“The zoning power handed to you by the people created a loophole that was exploited by outside investors, and it is to their benefit, not to the people,” Heather Watson said.

Residents also expressed concerns on Monday about the other environmental impacts a data center could present, like water usage, light pollution, increased temperatures in the area surrounding the center, and greater demand on the local electrical grid. 

“We definitely do not need or want a data center so close to our homes, disrupting our way of life with constant noise, higher bills, lower water pressure, negative sleep effects, and many other reported effects,” said Chris Chezem, a lifelong Lee County resident. “Having a data center in my backyard is not the future I envision, and not the future any of us would want.”

Kirk Smith, a member of the Lee County Board of Commissioners, wrote in a statement to NC Newsline Tuesday that the county needs the property tax revenue the data center would generate. He also questioned how many protestors are actually Lee County residents. He believes most people in his county support the project. 

“This comprises a very small fraction of our county and if facts were shared, the majority would most likely support the development of a data center near the Raleigh Executive Jetport,” Smith wrote.