Holly Springs NC 12-month data center moratorium (2026)
Holly Springs, North Carolina — 12-Month Moratorium Covering Data Centers, Cryptocurrency Mining and Data Processing Across Town Limits AND Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, With the Town Manager Advising the Town Can Regulate Them But CANNOT Ban Them (June 16, 2026)
Holly Springs, NC · Town of Holly Springs, N.C. — 12-month data center moratorium (approved June 16, 2026; effective June 17, 2026 through June 16, 2027)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- June 16, 2027
- Applies to
- Applicants for data centers, cryptocurrency mining operations, data processing facilities and related uses within Holly Springs town limits or its extraterritorial jurisdiction
- Enforced by
- Town of Holly Springs Planning and Zoning / Holly Springs Town Council
Holly Springs Town Council unanimously approved a twelve-month moratorium on new data center applications on June 16, 2026. It took effect the next day and runs through June 16, 2027, though the town can lift it earlier if it adopts new regulations first. Two features are worth recording. The coverage is broad in both subject and territory: it applies to data centers, CRYPTOCURRENCY MINING OPERATIONS, data processing facilities and related uses, and it reaches not only the town limits but HOLLY SPRINGS' EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION — the area outside the corporate boundary over which North Carolina municipalities may exercise planning authority. Most municipal moratoriums in this dataset stop at the town line, which leaves the immediately adjacent land, often the most attractive to a developer, entirely unprotected. The second feature is a legal limit the town put on the record itself. On August 18, 2026, two months into the pause, Town Manager Randy Harrington told the Council that Holly Springs CAN adopt rules governing where and how data centers operate, but CANNOT SIMPLY PROHIBIT THEM from locating in town. That distinction — regulate yes, ban no — is the constraint under which a great many of the measures in this dataset operate, and it is rarely stated so plainly by the jurisdiction's own manager. During the pause the town is studying water use, power demand, noise and where facilities could locate, and whether its existing development rules are adequate for today's data centers.
Who is protected: Holly Springs residents, and residents of the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction in Wake County, North Carolina
Legal detail
Town of Holly Springs, N.C. (Wake County) — 12-MONTH MORATORIUM on new data center applications, approved UNANIMOUSLY by the Town Council on JUNE 16, 2026, EFFECTIVE JUNE 17, 2026 and running THROUGH JUNE 16, 2027, with the town able to lift it earlier if it adopts new regulations. SUBJECT SCOPE: data centers, CRYPTOCURRENCY MINING OPERATIONS, DATA PROCESSING FACILITIES and related uses \u2014 a three-part formulation that closes the mining gap and the processing-facility gap together. TERRITORIAL SCOPE, and the feature worth copying: the moratorium applies within TOWN LIMITS AND HOLLY SPRINGS' EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION. North Carolina municipalities may exercise planning and development regulation within a defined ETJ beyond the corporate boundary; a moratorium that stops at the town line leaves the adjoining land \u2014 typically cheaper, larger-parcelled and closer to transmission, therefore the most attractive to a developer \u2014 unprotected. Athens OH data center moratorium Ord. 70-26 (2026) is the cautionary case: its moratorium did not reach the site that prompted it BECAUSE that site lay outside the city limits. Holly Springs extended to the limit of its authority. OPERATIVE EFFECT: stops the acceptance, processing AND approval of applications while the town studies whether existing development rules are adequate for today's data centers, examining water use, power demand, noise and permissible locations. THE LEGAL CONSTRAINT STATED ON THE RECORD: on AUGUST 18, 2026, two months into the pause, TOWN MANAGER RANDY HARRINGTON advised the Council that Holly Springs CAN ADOPT RULES GOVERNING WHERE AND HOW data centers operate BUT CANNOT SIMPLY PROHIBIT THEM from locating in town. This is the regulate-but-not-exclude boundary that constrains most municipal action in this dataset, and it is seldom articulated by a jurisdiction's own manager. It sits in tension with the outright prohibitions recorded elsewhere \u2014 Cherry Hill NJ data center prohibited-use ordinance (2026), Woodford County KY permanent data center ban (2026), Escambia County FL large-scale data center ban (2026) \u2014 and the difference is presumably a matter of differing state zoning-enabling law; that comparison is flagged, not resolved. POSTURE: no data center development was under review when Council approved the moratorium. REGIONAL: Wake County, adjacent to Cary, whose 18-month moratorium is indexed as Cary NC 18-month data center moratorium (2026).
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Holly Springs, NC |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Moderate |
| Enacted | June 16, 2026 |
| Citation | Town of Holly Springs, N.C. — 12-month data center moratorium (approved June 16, 2026; effective June 17, 2026 through June 16, 2027) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | No covered application may be accepted, processed or approved during the moratorium |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | Holly Springs can regulate data centers, but town manager says it can't ban them — Holly Springs Update |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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