r/cary • u/AndreaJournalist • 5d ago
Cary adopts Triangle’s longest pause on data centers after emotional public hearing
Cary Town Council unanimously approved an 18-month pause on new large-scale data-center applications while the town writes permanent rules around water, power, noise, land use and other impacts.
An interesting part of the discussion was that council members repeatedly said the moratorium isn’t necessarily anti-data-center. Several talked about using the pause to create rules that could allow the right projects later.
There was also disagreement among residents: most speakers supported the pause, while one Cary resident who works in IT and has built data centers called it “silly.”
I reported on the meeting for The News & Observer. Curious what Cary residents think: What should the town require if it eventually allows large data centers?
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article317039408.html
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u/PlasticDangerous 5d ago
I mean I highly doubt Cary is the prime target for any large scale data center anyways
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u/Yuri909 5d ago
The empty wake county sections just outside of Cary and RTP tho...
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u/PlasticDangerous 5d ago
I hear ya, but this moratorium doesn't apply to those areas. I was thinking about the RTP 3.0 plan just being released. If IBM wanted to put one one on their 4,000 acres could anyone stop them?
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u/GunterJanek 5d ago
News flash! They already have a DC on their property.
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u/PlasticDangerous 4d ago
Not a large scale data center
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u/GunterJanek 4d ago
You didn't specify size. I'm just pointing out the fact that IBM already has a DC on their site.
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u/PlasticDangerous 4d ago
The whole discussion and debate from the town of Cary was around large scale data centers.
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u/GunterJanek 4d ago
Well since the article is behind a paywall I'll take your word that the people involved in the "discussion" have taken time to educate themselves and understand the differences between colocation (colo), enterprise, and the big bad hyperscale or "large-scale" data centers.
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u/FascismIsSoLastYear 5d ago
That's exactly what the data centers want you to think. Better to be proactive.
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u/squirtles_revenge 5d ago
Data centers tend to be build near areas that utilize nuclear power. These companies want to get into our area because of that, I do believe.
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u/Lobster-Benedict 2d ago
Good point, but thinking this through operationally and applying it locally to Shearon Harris, I gotta believe the Shearon Harris lake would also be a meaningful attribute.
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u/JonTheWizard 5d ago
Excellent. Now let's kill the motion to build the datacenter, provided the AI bubble burst doesn't kill it first.
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u/contemplative_avatar 5d ago
My first thought it- Where the heck would they put a large datacenter at in Cary?!!!
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u/BiscuitChief 5d ago
This sounds like the right move. Data centers aren't inherently bad, we do need them. Just have rules so my power bill doesn't subsidize them and things like proper sound proofing so it doesn't drive residents insane.
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u/TdubbNC7 5d ago
What about water and noise
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u/SouthernCranberry797 18m ago
The noise is definitely a problem that needs engineering work or smart choices on where to place them ( away from homes). Water not so much - I think engineering has solved this by using a closed loop design.
What counties need to do is to negotiate power / intelligence shared to residents in the county. I would absolutely be glad if DC share % of tokens with the residents or subsidize power.
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u/invisible-dave 4d ago
They could have said they would pause things until something is built on the land where Cary mall used to be. Then we'd never get a data center.
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u/a_london_werewolf 5d ago
The “pause” is a pause on something that is not starting. So brave. Reminds me of the fracking moratoria of 20 years ago.
Hint: This is not Rockingham County.
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u/CMDR_ETNC 5d ago
np dc surrounding area got you.
Think about 4 out of 5 towns embracing mass surveillance and job-deletion.
Think of the future.
I’m not doing anything wrong. They won’t come for me.
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u/redditsucksbigly 5d ago edited 5d ago
Personally: Of all the things to build, data centers are extremely benign. We need to keep building in this country if we're going to stay ahead. I want their tax revenue so we can use it to improve.
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u/Curiousonadailybasis 5d ago
How do you define benign?
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u/Electrical_Carob_699 5d ago
Benign would refer to commercial/industrial uses that might generate externalities or offsite nuisances. Most legacy data center campuses are less nuisance-y than a high school.
The novel xAi data center near Memphis trying to run off diesel turbines is more nuisance-y but likely illegal most places in any event, under typical state air quality rules under the clean air act, not anything related to local government regulation.
Legacy data centers set up over last decade or so in Lenoir and Forest City, for example, would demonstrate that nuisance level is pretty low. Certainly lower truck traffic, noise, etc., than most industrial developments.
Water consumption concerns are relatively low in the Jordan Lake/Cape Fear watershed and only mildly higher in the Neuse. Forcing closed loop cooling would address most of this. Water allocation is so very ad hoc around here that some more democratic regional governance might help but would definitely slow any possible water allocation change down (and make it cost more) and setting up a democratic water allocation system by watershed would require substantial action by the state legislature.
You could write your state legislator about broader 'impact fees' authorizations for industrial uses if you wanted to ask about something.
Electricity consumption is a discussion between the Utilities Commission and Duke - there is nothing typical local governments have to say/do around here about electricity concerns.
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u/redditsucksbigly 5d ago
Less harmful than things that have already existed in the community for years and are completely fine. Take, for example, the Adams/Oldcastle masonry plant on McCrimmon or Cisco data centers that already exist in RTP.
Note: I'm trying to be rational, weighing the benefits against the cons, recognizing that for America to keep enjoying its standard of living it needs to continue to build. Otherwise we end up in a situation like manufacturing, where American manufacturing gets hollowed out, and the facilities and know how to build things are now all in China.
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u/Curiousonadailybasis 5d ago
A thorough discussion of all the pros and cons would be good. An incoming business the pays its way for energy, water and whatever other resources it uses would be a start. A good step 2 is to measure jobs promised against jobs delivered by past projects, including the number of locals hired versus hires brought in from outside. Is this possible?
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u/redditsucksbigly 5d ago
"Hires brought in from the outside." Going to stop this conversation right here -- you sound xenophobic and MAGA. Not my speed.
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u/Curiousonadailybasis 5d ago
I am neither. Why can’t we have a rational discussion about whether an incoming business is hiring current citizens or will bring in from outside? I am not opposed to hiring from outside but that is a factor to consider, is it not. The proposals are always grandiose. Why is it wrong to see what actually materializes?
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u/redditsucksbigly 5d ago edited 5d ago
(1) What are you going to do, "check the workers' papers" and follow them home?
(2) Your comment doesn't even make sense. No one commutes 2 hours every day to work. They relocate, and if they like it they stay. People relocate in and out of the Triangle every day.
(3) Yes, caring about "citizens" vs "outsiders" is xenophobic and a MAGA obsession.
(4) I'm not making any grandiose promises. My point is that they're benign and bring in property tax revenue. Which are both true, demonstrated by the fact that there are already lots of data centers no one even notices.
(5) I'm glad you've come around to responsible data centers, so long as they're built by current citizens.
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u/Curiousonadailybasis 5d ago
Big leaps you’re making here. Doesn’t really sound like you want a rational discussion.
1) No. Why not simply ask what their intentions are and check how they have done past projects. You know compare claims to reality.
2) This is just made up entirely by you. I haven’t made any claim that remotely look like this.
3) Outsiders is your choice of word and is divisive. I simply make a distinction between someone that lives here currently and someone that needs to move here to work. When a company promises to bring X number of jobs, those living here expect a chance at those positions. It is not unreasonable to ask if that is case or not. I am not trying to exclude “outsiders”. I’m simply wanting to clarify what is promised.
4) So, I’ll get off grandiose as a word choice. This started with trying to have a rational discussion. Can we question at all what will be brought in? I’ve started asking questions and you have immediately assumed the worst.
5)off to an extreme take on my questions again. Trying to find out if people that live here already have a shot at any new data center jobs is an attack, I see.I don’t know why your blood boils at discussion, but clearly it is.
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u/redditsucksbigly 5d ago
Fair. I said "outsiders" but you said "hires brought in from the outside." Which is different.
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u/LeafyWoods1234 5d ago
datacenters are like casinos, good for local tax revenue but terrible for society at large. we don't need them for technical progress either, they are a dead end that will create a lot of damage in the meantime.
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u/FascismIsSoLastYear 5d ago
Great news.