10/12/2026
‼️ Join us Monday, October 19th at 11am at City Hall! The City Council has called a Special Meeting on data centers!! Wondering if you somehow missed the BIG announcement? Well don’t feel left out. So far this hasn’t traveled beyond Council inboxes and a mundane listing on the “Council Events” page. Please spread the word and be there in person if you can. I know 11am on a workday is a hard ask for most Fayetteville residents.
What will be decided? Will the Council FINALLY move toward a moratorium, or go straight to UDO amendments?
✅ Encouraging momentum: Thank you to everyone who spoke at October's Public Forum and to everyone who keeps emailing EVERY member of Council. Please continue! This has made an impact! On August 10, five of us voted to reconsider a moratorium: Council Members Greene, Jones, Hondros, Ferguson and I. The vote was 5-5. It takes six. Council Members McNair, Haire, Davis,Thompson or Mayor Colvin could still be that sixth vote. It’s okay to call them out, but they could also benefit from being called in, especially if you know them. Write them, meet with them, call them. Make it clear that you are inviting them to stand with the people they serve. (Contact info is in the comments.)
On the 19th we expect to hear feedback from the community listening sessions and staff updates on the UDO amendments.
❌ A quick move to UDO approval skips the work a moratorium is designed to make room for: a resident-led Data Center Task Force, environmental impact analysis specifically for OUR land, air, water and power grid, and even "no-annexation agreements" with concerned neighbors in Eastover, Hope Mills and the County.
⏳ Not that we’re counting, but it has been 181 days since Council voted to hear staff guidance on pursuing a moratorium. More than 50 North Carolina communities have taken that time because it is the wisest way to address the potential harms of data centers. So.... Why not Fayetteville?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. In so much of what I read and hear right now, people are saying they no longer believe in government. They see a government that has in many ways sold us out. One that answers to big business and powerful lobbies before the clear demands of its people. Here at home, they see a Council that resists common sense regulation yet hurries to welcome and fund the very things that concern us and could harm us.
I understand why people feel harvested and monetized. I can absolutely see why so many in Fayetteville feel betrayed, and why some have checked out on leaders who seem to take their vote for granted.
Leadership asks more of us than deferring to the most powerful interests. In this case it calls on our moral conscience, discernment and wisdom. A moratorium is what the people we represent are asking for, and it is also plainly the right thing to do.
See you on the 19th at 11am.
All of Us or None.
