A temporary moratorium would prohibit the County from accepting, processing, approving, or issuing applications, permits, and approvals for data centers for up to nine months.

The moratorium would cover zoning amendments, special-use approvals, variances, place-type overlays, subdivisions, land-development plans, grading and stormwater plans, construction permits, certificates of occupancy, and other approvals needed to construct, expand, establish, or operate a data center.

The moratorium would apply to data centers proposed as principal, accessory, conditional, special-exception, or component uses of a larger development.

The proposed ordinance would invoke the Pending Ordinance Doctrine at first reading, allowing the moratorium to take effect immediately subject to the required enactment procedures.

During the moratorium, existing lawful data centers could continue operating and be maintained, repaired, or replaced only if the work does not materially increase size, capacity, water use, energy demand, noise, traffic, or operational intensity.

The County would conduct a comprehensive study during the moratorium covering issues such as electric demand, water use, wastewater, noise, traffic, environmental effects, emergency services, infrastructure, housing, and cumulative impacts before deciding whether additional regulations are needed.

A sample ordinance would permanently prohibit data centers as permitted, conditional, or accessory uses in every County zoning district.

Under the sample prohibition ordinance, no conditional-use permit, special exception, variance, planned development district, Traditional Community Plan designation, or development agreement could authorize a data center.

The sample prohibition ordinance would apply to pending applications that lack final, unappealable approval, while preserving vested rights established before its effective date.

Under the sample prohibition ordinance, an existing lawful data center would become a nonconforming use and could not be expanded or increased in building area, electrical load, server capacity, or cooling capacity beyond its lawful preexisting levels.

The sample floating-zone ordinance would require County Council to apply the Data Center Floating Zone to a specific parcel through a zoning-map amendment before a data center could be located there.

A Data Center Floating Zone site would generally need at least 50 contiguous acres, unless County Council finds that a smaller site is appropriate as part of an existing industrial campus or coordinated employment center.

A floating-zone applicant would have to demonstrate consistency with the Comprehensive Plan and adequate electric, water, wastewater, telecommunications, stormwater, transportation, and emergency-response infrastructure.

Data center principal buildings in the proposed floating zone would be limited to a maximum height of 50 feet.

The proposed floating-zone standards would require setbacks of 200 feet from sensitive receptors, 150 feet from public road rights-of-way, 200 feet from residential zoning, and 100 feet from other property lines.

The proposed floating-zone standards would require buffers of 200 feet from sensitive receptors or residential zoning, 150 feet from roads, parks, open space, conservation areas, or cultural resources, and 75 feet from other nonresidential property, with specified Type E planting requirements.

Data center applicants would have to submit pre-construction and post-construction noise studies, and operations would generally be limited to 60 dBA CNEL at sensitive receptors and 70 dBA CNEL at other receiving properties, subject to the more restrictive County limit.

The proposed floating-zone standards would require visual-impact assessments, screening of buildings and equipment, and after-hours lighting controls that prevent glare visible from residences, roads, waterways, or scenic corridors.

Generators, transformers, substations, cooling equipment, tanks, batteries, pumps, and similar equipment would generally have to be located outside required buffers and screened; certain on-site distribution lines would have to be underground unless technically infeasible.

Applicants would have to submit a water-supply analysis addressing average, maximum, and peak demand, cooling and fire-flow needs, source availability, effects on other customers, drought conditions, and recycling opportunities.

The proposed floating-zone standards would require water-conservation measures including closed-loop cooling, reclaimed or non-potable water, rainwater capture, condensate recovery, leak detection, metering, and efficiency monitoring.

Applicants would have to identify and obtain written confirmation of adequate capacity for all wastewater generated by the development before discharge to a public or private system.

Before Planning Commission consideration, applicants would have to submit an Environmental and Community Impact Analysis addressing facility size and phasing, traffic, energy and water demand, emissions, noise, stormwater, emergency services, public facilities, revenues and costs, cumulative impacts, and Comprehensive Plan consistency.

Applicants would have to submit an Emergency Response Plan addressing fire suppression, battery fires, generators and fuel, hazardous materials, evacuation, emergency access, fire flow, toxic gases, shutdown procedures, emergency contacts, and first-responder training.

Battery energy-storage systems would have to comply with applicable fire codes and NFPA 855 or its successor, and include fire detection, suppression, thermal-runaway monitoring, emergency shutdown procedures, separation from adjoining property, and coverage in the Emergency Response Plan.

Every floating-zone application would require a decommissioning plan covering removal of equipment, utility infrastructure, electronic waste, hazardous materials, site restoration, reuse, and financial responsibility.

Before receiving a certificate of occupancy, the owner would have to provide financial security equal to 110 percent of estimated decommissioning costs, less documented salvage value, with periodic cost-estimate reviews.

A data center campus could be deemed abandoned after 12 consecutive months without operations and without an approved redevelopment or reuse plan, allowing the County to require implementation of the decommissioning plan.

The proposed moratorium would not prevent the continued operation, maintenance, repair, or replacement of an existing lawful data center, as long as the work does not materially expand its size, capacity, water use, energy demand, noise, traffic, or operational intensity. continued operation, maintenance, repair, or replacement

The moratorium would preserve applications with final approval before its effective date, vested rights recognized under South Carolina law, and ministerial permits for work authorized by valid existing approvals. vested under applicable South Carolina law

During the moratorium, County staff could accept information and conduct preliminary planning discussions about data centers, provided that no prohibited development approval is issued. accepting information or conducting preliminary discussions

The proposed Data Center Floating Zone would create a zoning pathway for a data center to be applied to specific property through a County Council zoning-map amendment rather than requiring data centers to be allowed throughout the County. applies the DCFZ to a specific parcel

Within the proposed floating zone, a data center campus would be a permitted principal use, subject to the floating-zone standards and approval process. Data Center Campus

The floating-zone proposal would allow associated infrastructure as accessory uses, including administrative and security offices, telecommunications facilities, electrical substations, transformers, standby generators, cooling systems, battery storage, water-storage and treatment systems, wastewater facilities, and fire-protection facilities. Accessory Uses

The floating zone would generally require at least 50 contiguous acres but would allow County Council to approve a smaller site if it is part of an existing industrial campus or coordinated employment center. unless the County Council determines that a smaller site is appropriate