Perquimans Drafts Data Center Moratorium as Camden Prepares for Hearing

BREAKING NEWS

Reporting note: Camden Tribune received the Perquimans County agenda, county manager’s notes and meeting packet directly from the county Saturday night. The documents were not yet available on the county website at the time of publication.

HERTFORD, N.C. — Camden County is not alone in considering whether data-center development should be temporarily paused while local regulations are reviewed.

Official Perquimans County documents received by Camden Tribune show that county commissioners will consider whether to advertise a public hearing on a proposed one-year moratorium covering data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities and other high-impact data-processing operations.

The item appears under new business on the Perquimans County Board of Commissioners’ Aug. 3 agenda.

What Monday’s action would do: Commissioners are being asked whether to schedule and advertise a public hearing. They are not yet being asked to adopt the moratorium.

Documents came directly from Perquimans County

Perquimans County Clerk to the Board Rebecca T. Corprew supplied the agenda, notes and meeting packet Saturday evening.

In her email, Corprew apologized that the materials had not been distributed Friday and explained that they were not yet available online because the county’s internet service had been interrupted Friday afternoon.

That timing is important. This report is based on official county records supplied directly by the Clerk to the Board, not on social-media posts, unofficial summaries or an unidentified source.

What the Perquimans draft says

The proposed ordinance is titled “An Ordinance Imposing a Temporary Moratorium on Development Approvals for Data Centers and Related High-Impact Facilities in Perquimans County.”

The draft says the county has observed “recent interest, requests and potential applications” involving data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations in unincorporated portions of Perquimans County.

The document does not name a developer, landowner, company, proposed address or specific project.

The draft says the county’s existing zoning ordinance does not adequately address several potential effects associated with these facilities:

• High electricity consumption and possible strain on utility infrastructure;
• Noise from cooling systems and backup generators;
• Water consumption for cooling;
• Hazardous-material storage and electronic-waste disposal;
• Environmental effects; and
• Compatibility with rural and agriculturally zoned land.

The document says existing general-use and special-use permitting procedures lack specific performance standards such as noise limits, setbacks and utility-capacity requirements.

What would be temporarily suspended

If the ordinance is eventually adopted following the legally required public process, Perquimans County would temporarily stop accepting, processing or approving several types of development applications connected with covered facilities.

The listed approvals include:

• Special-use permits;
• Conditional-zoning permits;
• Zoning-map amendments or rezoning requests;
• Building permits; and
• Other development approvals required by law.

The proposed restrictions would apply to the establishment, construction, alteration or expansion of a data center, cryptocurrency mining facility or other high-impact data-processing facility.

The moratorium would apply throughout unincorporated Perquimans County. A development with valid approval obtained before the ordinance’s effective date would be exempt under the draft.

A proposed 12-month work plan

The Perquimans proposal does more than call for a temporary pause. It outlines work the county would be expected to complete during the moratorium.

• Months 1–4: Study potential energy, water, noise and land-use impacts in consultation with utility providers and the UNC School of Government.
• Months 4–6: Draft land-use amendments and performance standards addressing zoning districts, setbacks, noise and utility capacity.
• Months 6–10: Conduct public workshops and Planning Board meetings to review the proposed standards and receive public input.
• Months 10–12: Obtain a Planning Board recommendation and conduct the hearings needed to consider final ordinance amendments.

The document remains a draft. Its final adoption section contains placeholder language rather than an adoption date, reinforcing that the ordinance has not yet been approved.

Camden already preparing for its hearing

The Perquimans proposal arrives as Camden County prepares for its own advertised public hearing on a temporary data-center and cryptocurrency-mining moratorium.

Camden Tribune previously reported that Camden County had already prepared an adoption-ready ordinance before residents received their first advertised hearing devoted to the proposal.

Read the earlier report: Camden’s Data Center Moratorium Was Written Before the Hearing.

Camden’s public hearing and the Perquimans agenda item are procedurally different.

• Camden County: An advertised public hearing has already been scheduled, and commissioners could consider the ordinance after receiving public comment.
• Perquimans County: Commissioners are first being asked whether to advertise a public hearing. The public hearing and any possible adoption would occur later.

Residents should therefore not interpret Monday’s Perquimans agenda as confirmation that the proposed ordinance has already been approved.

A regional land-use question

The appearance of similar proposals in two neighboring counties indicates that the question is no longer limited to Camden.

Both counties are considering whether regulations written before the current expansion of artificial-intelligence infrastructure adequately address large data-processing operations.

The documents raise several questions local governments may need to answer before considering future applications:

• How should a data center be defined?
• Should standards differ according to facility size and electrical demand?
• How much electricity and water are locally available?
• Who would pay for utility and road improvements?
• What continuous noise limits should apply?
• How far should facilities be set back from homes and farms?
• What fire-protection and emergency-response capabilities would be required?
• How should backup generators, fuel storage and hazardous materials be regulated?
• What financial guarantees should be required for closure and site restoration?
• What information should applicants disclose to the public?

What has not been established

The official Perquimans documents reviewed by Camden Tribune do not establish that a specific data-center application has been filed.

They do not identify a proposed site, developer, technology company, electrical load, water demand, tax-incentive request or construction schedule.

The draft’s reference to “recent interest, requests and potential applications” raises a legitimate public question about what communications or inquiries county officials have received. It does not, by itself, confirm that a formal application exists.

Camden Tribune will seek records clarifying:

• What data-center or cryptocurrency-mining inquiries Perquimans County has received;
• When those communications occurred;
• Whether any properties or companies were identified;
• Whether utility providers have been consulted;
• Who drafted the proposed ordinance;
• Whether the draft was reviewed by the county attorney; and
• The proposed date of any public hearing authorized Monday.

Monday’s Perquimans meeting

The Perquimans County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, in the Perquimans County Library meeting room in Hertford.

A Board of Adjustment quasi-judicial hearing on separate planning and zoning matters is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Camden Tribune will monitor the meeting and report whether commissioners authorize the public-hearing advertisement, modify the proposal or take another action.

Source and transparency note

This report is based primarily on the official Aug. 3, 2026, Perquimans County Board of Commissioners agenda, county manager’s notes and meeting packet supplied directly by Perquimans County Clerk to the Board Rebecca T. Corprew.

Corprew stated that the materials were not yet posted online because the county’s internet service had been interrupted Friday afternoon.

Camden Tribune independently reviewed the agenda and the three-page draft data-center moratorium contained in the meeting packet.

The proposed ordinance has not been adopted. The agenda asks commissioners whether to advertise a public hearing. No specific data-center applicant, developer or property is identified in the documents reviewed.

Context concerning Camden County comes from official Camden County documents and Camden Tribune’s previous reporting.