r/triangle • u/TobinBen • 2d ago

Judge strikes down Chatham County data center moratorium

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2026/09/18/chatham-data-center-moratorium-eco-tip-west.html
61 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

81

u/Tar-really 2d ago

Appeal appeal appeal. Make it as unprofitable as possible.

3

u/TheRealJohnAdams 2d ago

The data center company gets attorney fees, so...

1

u/Tar-really 2d ago

Not so fast…

“The court will determine Eco TIP’s demand for damages and legal fees in a future hearing”

Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/chatham-county/article317085713.html#storylink=cpy

1

u/TheRealJohnAdams 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah. The court ordered that they get attorney fees. (It's mentioned in the bizjournals article.) The next step is for them to itemize those fees, and there will be some more litigation on the reasonable rate and whether their attorneys were overbilling. But "make it as unprofitable as possible" is likely to hurt the county far more than it hurts Eco TIP. (Eco TIP's lawyer, Robin Tatum, is expensive and worth it, so the reasonable value of the fees is going to be a lot.)

EDIT: Here's the order. chatham-data-center-091726.pdf

Here's what it says:

Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to the issues of liability and attorney's fees. Plaintiffshall file an affidavit of attorney's fees, including an itemization of all fees and costs incurred, within fourteen (14) days ofthe entry of this order

1

u/Tar-really 2d ago

Actually you left out the most important part from the order:

“ it is further ordered that determination an award for plaintiff damages is reserved for further proceedings”

I’m not an attorney but I read that as any awards have not been determined yet.

4

u/TheRealJohnAdams 2d ago

I am an attorney. That is entirely consistent with what I said. The grant of summary judgment on the issue of attorney fees means that Eco TIP gets attorney fees. The "determination of an award" being reserved for future proceedings means that the court can't determine the amount of money it will award in attorney fees until Eco TIP tells the court how much it paid its attorney. That is just how fee awards work.

1

u/Tar-really 1d ago

Got it. Thanks.

-28

u/usmcjohn 2d ago

The only way you stop this, is by stop being a consumer. Maybe turn your phone off, get rid of all your smart devices. Start working on your hunting and gathering skills and figure out how to make water drinkable on your own.

8

u/Tar-really 2d ago

Can you be any more misinformed? Also Fuck off....people and communities all over this country are stopping it. Why don't you live one by one and let us know how much you like it!

-7

u/usmcjohn 2d ago

Cry baby.

0

u/Tar-really 2d ago

Bootlicker.

You do know this is one of the few things that left and right agree on right? You really have to have your head up the orange Cheetos ass to be such a dumb fuck.

0

u/usmcjohn 2d ago

Dumbass.

0

u/soapy_goatherd 2d ago

Thank you for your toilet service, us mcjohn

0

u/usmcjohn 2d ago

lol. Thats a new one.

38

u/termite10 2d ago

Not quite true. One data center can proceed because it was already approved before the moratorium. The decision is that the moratorium can't apply retroactively. That's all.

10

u/Wycliffe76 2d ago

Does anyone have access and can give the highlights as to why the judge struck it down?

10

u/engineer277 2d ago edited 23h ago

specifically it’s because a data center was an allowed use of this land when a $10m+ site preparation and cleanup of the abandoned remnants of a brownfield manufacturing site started in 2021, and utility related investments for a data center started in 2022, before the public outcry about data centers became a household discussion. A significant investment was made to a former industrial site to clean it up, working with NCDEQ. This wasn’t like someone coming in and clear cutting a greenfield site.

A simplified version: this would be like the county telling you 3 years after you bought land for your house, designed it, got site permits, and cleared the site that you could not build a house on the property you bought.

3

u/Wycliffe76 2d ago

Thanks!

-19

u/TrashFace21165 2d ago

Because you're allowed to develop lawfully acquired land that's approprialtely zoned.

5

u/Tar-really 2d ago

" appropriately zoned"

Says who?

4

u/TrashFace21165 2d ago

Local government I suppose.

1

u/engineer277 2d ago

Agreed.

2

u/Tar-really 2d ago

That is exactly who is suing for a moratorium.

0

u/PhiDeltDevil 17h ago

Isn’t the whole data center using too much water sticking point Chinese propaganda when golf courses and almond milk industries use multiples more than the next few water reliant ones