Pickens County Council is set to take up a first reading Monday on a proposed six-month moratorium on new data centers, a pause county leaders say would give them breathing room to study regulations before any project moves forward. The timing is no accident: a developer recently asked county staff whether Pickens County would be willing to host one.
According to Greenville Online, the ordinance would temporarily halt data center development in the county while officials evaluate potential rules governing the industry. The discussion is scheduled for a first reading at Monday's council meeting, the outlet reports. County Administrator Ken Roper told council members at an Oct. 5 meeting that he had recently fielded questions from a developer about the county's willingness to host a data center, Greenville Online reported.
That inquiry appears to have set the clock running. At the same Oct. 5 meeting, the council voted to add a first-reading, title-only item on the moratorium to Monday's agenda, according to Citizen Portal. Greenville Online reports the county has 42 scored candidate sites that have been evaluated for data center potential through a platform called GridCensus.
A Skeptical Chairman and an Industry on the Hunt
Not everyone on the council sounds enthusiastic about the prospect. Pickens County Council Chairman Alex Saitta has expressed opposition to data centers; council meeting minutes cited by Greenville Online indicate he doesn't believe a project would move forward without council support for incentives — a signal that even if a developer came calling, winning local buy-in would be another matter entirely.
The interest itself isn't surprising. Technology companies and site selectors have been combing South Carolina for locations with available land, power infrastructure and fiber connectivity, the same report notes. That search has put pressure on county governments across the state to figure out, often on the fly, how they want to handle an industry that promises investment but also draws heavily on electricity, water and road capacity.
Pickens Joins a Statewide Wave of Pauses
Pickens County would be far from alone if it adopts a moratorium. At least 15 South Carolina counties have proposed or passed temporary data center moratoriums, up from at least nine considering one earlier in the summer, according to The State. The newspaper reports that many counties frame these pauses as a chance to research local impacts before more facilities get built. Absent statewide rules, South Carolina counties have been using the moratoriums to buy time to write their own standards, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.
Several neighboring counties have already moved well past a first reading. Spartanburg County Council took a unanimous first vote on a one-year moratorium on future data center development, per the Daily Gazette's report. Anderson County Council gave final approval to a six-month moratorium on data center applications in August, and Greenwood County Council approved the third and final reading of its own one-year moratorium in July, according to the Upstate Business Journal.
Further south, Colleton County approved a six-month moratorium on data center approvals and development in July, giving officials time to review land-use rules, per Bluffton Today. The State reports Fairfield County granted initial approval to a 12-month pause in August. County leaders plan to use the time to assess how data centers affect local power, water and road infrastructure, update the county's Land Management Ordinance and gather resident input at town halls, according to WIS-TV. Newberry County's moratorium ordinance goes further still, calling for a comprehensive study of the cumulative impacts of data center development and a written report with policy recommendations, The State reported.
Big Dollars, Disputed Numbers
The stakes driving these local debates are tied to real money already flowing into the Upstate. NorthMark's Spartanburg County data center investment has been reported at $2.8 billion, per The State. Estimates of how many data centers already operate statewide also vary: The State puts the number at least 20 large facilities planned or operating, while the Upstate Business Journal cites a Data Center Map estimate of 48 data centers spread across 12 South Carolina markets, a figure that may reflect a broader definition of what counts.
Whatever the precise count, the pattern across the state is consistent — counties are moving to pump the brakes before developers arrive with finished plans rather than after. South Carolina county ordinances require three readings at separate meetings before a moratorium can be imposed, according to the South Carolina State House Code of Laws, meaning Monday's vote would mark only the start of the process in Pickens County, not the finish.
