Charlotte City Council votes unanimously to extend its pause on new data centres while North Carolina weighs state rules

Charlotte City Council voted unanimously on Monday evening, 26 October, to extend its moratorium on new data-centre projects, WSOC-TV and Bisnow reported. The pause began in June as a 150-day moratorium and would have ended on 5 November, Bisnow reported.

The outlets differ on how long the extension runs: WSOC describes it as one additional year, while Bisnow gives a date in October 2027. So no end date is given here.

Projects approved before the original moratorium passed in June can still go ahead, WSOC reported. The council also asked city staff to look at ways to regulate data centres already approved for construction. WSOC said the council is waiting on the state before writing permanent rules, including possible state laws that would limit local regulation, and a proposed two-year statewide moratorium.

The same night, Aurora City Council in Colorado voted 6-5 for an indefinite pause on new data-centre applications, which failed because the council's rules need a two-thirds vote to bring back a measure it had already rejected, the Denver Gazette reported. Local pauses are spreading as data centres become a campaign issue a week before the midterm elections: the Switchboard reported on 26 October a Politico poll in which half of Americans opposed a data centre within three miles of home.

• Reported Charlotte City Council voted unanimously on 26 October to extend its pause on new data-centre projects, WSOC-TV reports. WSOC-TV
• Reported The original 150-day moratorium took effect in June and would have ended on 5 November, Bisnow reports. Bisnow
• Reported Aurora's council voted 6-5 for an indefinite pause, short of the two-thirds it needed, the Denver Gazette reports. Denver Gazette