Data Centers: Daily Notes | May 5, 2026
Durham passes 60-day data center ban with sights on a longer moratorium; Meta assembles $13 billion in financing for its El Paso campus; Van Wert holds public hearing on a $10 billion Thor Equities data center that's quadrupled in scope.
At A Glance 🔽
- Durham, NC council passes 60-day moratorium on data centers, crypto mining, and data processing; county commissioners discuss a joint 12-month ban.
- Meta assembles roughly $13 billion in financing for its El Paso data center campus, scaling the site to about one gigawatt of capacity.
- Lonsdale, MN passes one-year moratorium.
- Indianapolis council approves Metrobloks data center for Martindale-Brightwood; also passing a non-binding resolution calling for a citywide pause.
- Van Wert, OH holds public hearing on $10B Thor Equities data center; council vote could come as soon as next week.
- Alabama, NY holds public hearing on $20 billion Stream Data Centers proposal at the Stamp Industrial Park.
- Union County, SC tables first reading of tax break ordinance for more than $400 million "Project Alpaca" data center.
- St. Charles, MO holds public hearing on proposed ban of large-scale data centers, six months into an existing moratorium.
- Sheboygan, WI Common Council votes to refer data center moratorium measure to plan commission.
Durham, North Carolina
Durham City Council unanimously passed a 60-day moratorium on data center, data processing, and cryptocurrency mining development, though a councilmember clarified that the goal is a moratorium of at least 24 months.
The council had planned to consider a two-year ban, but because the proposed ordinance had not been reviewed by the joint city-county planning commission, the timeline was limited to 60 days. City Attorney Kimberly Rehberg clarified the city's Unified Development Ordinance caps moratoriums at 12 months.
Meta / El Paso, Texas
Meta is assembling roughly $13 billion in financing for its El Paso data center campus, scaling the site to about one gigawatt of capacity with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan leading the process.
Meta's original commitment to El Paso, announced in October 2025, was $1.5 billion. The financing now under discussion is roughly eight times that figure and is structured mostly as debt with a smaller equity slice. At its Q1 2026 earnings call on April 29, the company raised its 2026 capex guidance to $115 to $145 billion, with almost all of it going toward AI data centers. If the El Paso financing closes at its current size, it would set a benchmark for how the next wave of mega-scale data centers will be debt-financed.
Lonsdale, Minnesota
Lonsdale's city council passed a one-year moratorium restricting the location, establishment, or construction of data centers within city limits, just eight days after communities gathered at the state Capitol calling for a statewide moratorium.
The city attorney recommended the moratorium to prevent legal issues that could arise from moving forward with a ban without proper data.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Metrobloks Indianapolis
The Indianapolis City-County Council approved a Metrobloks data center for a 14-acre site in the historically Black Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood while also passing a non-binding resolution calling for a citywide pause on high-impact data center approvals.
Councilor Jesse Brown introduced the resolution urging the Metropolitan Development Commission to implement a temporary stay. The Metrobloks facility at 2505 N. Sherman Ave., a former drive-in theater, would use a closed-loop cooling system requiring 19,000 gallons for the first building and 47,500 for the second. Residents had opposed the project citing the neighborhood's history of industrial contamination, including lead in the soil. Councilor Ron Gibson, who supports the project, had his home shot in April with a note that said "No Data Centers".
Data Centers
Van Wert, Ohio
Van Wert held a public hearing on a data center proposal from Thor Equities that has grown from a $2 billion, 220-acre project to a $10 billion, 900-acre development after a larger end user stepped in.
Most speakers at the hearing opposed the project, focusing on water levels, noise, and light pollution. The Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation projects 250 permanent jobs and more than 1,000 construction jobs. Activist group Conserve Ohio circulated a petition for a state constitutional amendment that would bar future data center construction entirely. City Council will decide whether to annex and rezone the land, with a vote possible as soon as next week.
St. Charles, Missouri
St. Charles City Council held a public hearing on a proposal to ban large-scale data centers within city limits, while smaller server rooms and data-processing spaces would remain allowed.
🔗Page 64-65 "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 4OO.O5O OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES..."
The move comes six months into a one-year moratorium the city enacted after a developer proposed a massive data center near Highway 370. The Zoning Commission voted to send the proposed ban to the council. No final vote was taken at the hearing; the proposal could return for a vote as soon as May 19.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Sheboygan's Common Council voted to refer a data center moratorium measure to the Plan Commission for further review, after hearing from residents opposed to data center development.
Alder Grawien said the pause is meant for the council to "sit down and figure out what would a data center in our community look like." Alders Mitchell, Menzer, and Heideman voted against the referral.
Town of Alabama, New York
The Town of Alabama held a public hearing on a $20 billion proposal from Stream Data Centers to build one of the largest data center facilities in the nation at the Stamp Industrial Park.
Some neighbors raised environmental concerns. The planning board said it is being thorough in its review, which includes visiting other data center sites around the country. The Town of Alabama Planning Board and the Genesee County Economic Development Center are both conducting reviews; neither has made a decision. A planning board member said the sites they visited were quieter than anticipated.
Union County, South Carolina
Union County leaders voted to table tax breaks for a proposed data center, halting the first reading of a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement for "Project Alpaca", a more than $400 million investment in the Midway Green Industrial Park.
The project would bring over 50 high-wage jobs and more than 500 construction jobs. Council said the motion to table gives them more time to review and evaluate all aspects of the project. A public hearing that had been scheduled for May 12 has been cancelled. If the project is reintroduced, council said they will hold a public information forum before making any decisions on the tax agreement.
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