Speeches

Sometimes someone's speech encompasses the spirit and heart of the community. Sometimes it's a post that has a slightly different take on the issue. Below are some of the speeches and posts that have resonated with our group.

Articles

As the interest in our fight grows, we have found these articles to also resonate with our group.

Please note that this is a new section as of August, 2025 and is a work in progress that will periodically be updated.

Bracey Harris

journalist

Kerry Pennell

resident

Speeches

Articles

We all understand that growth is coming to southern Iredell County. But what the people area asking for – and what this moment requires – is responsible growth. Growth that respects the land, honors the character of this community, and doesn’t leapfrog ahead of he services and systems needed to sustain it.

Patterson Farm Road is one of the last remaining areas of true rural residential character in our county. Don’t erase that with premature decisions that we all know cannot be undone. For once, allow the land to be used by right – as it is – and preserve what so many in this community value; open space, clean water, safe and manageable roads, and a future that remains balanced and thoughtful.

We would be remiss not to mention the behavior and approach of the developer, Tract. From the beginning, their attitude has been dismissive and disrespectful – to both the residents and the process. Their position has been clear: take our money, or walk away. Vague promises have replaced meaningful answers. Their contempt for residents who voiced legitimate concerns has been obvious in every interaction. That is not how you build trust or a future in a community like ours.

We ask:

· What, if any, independent research has been conducted by this board into the long-term impacts on water, sewer, power, and road infrastructure?

· What, if any, direct questions have you asked of town staff or Tract – and what answers have you received?

· Why was this entire proposal discussed in backrooms, far in advance of the public even knowing it existed?

Let’s be clear: this project was well in motion before residents ever caught wind of it. And it’s only because of the strength and unity of this community – people stepping up just a few months ago – that we’ve slowed the rush to rubber-stamp approval. Our neighbors have worked tirelessly to demand transparency, accountability, and answers. We’re proud of that. And we vow: we will never again let a project of this scale to move this far behind closed doors without being challenged.

This entire mess could have been avoided with honesty and transparency from the start. Instead, we’ve been handed a developer’s dream and asked to swallow it as our new reality.

Commissioners, you now have a clear choice: honor the people who live here, or side with vague promises and veiled plans. Say no to this rezoning and annexation request. Let us plan first – not react later. Let us lead with integrity, not regret.

Please say, "no," and push back against allowing data centers in Iredell County and the Town of Mooresville. By doing so, you will leave control of electricity and water with residents. If a data center is approved, it will most likely have critical infrastructure priority ranking for use of our electricity and water. This will leave residents without needed resources.

Energy

As seen over the past few days, Duke Energy does not have the power for our grid as it stands. The rest of the east is also in a heatwave so Duke Energy cannot borrow energy from it's neighbors either. Both Duke Energy and Energy United are reporting thousands of outages in the area.

Mooresville and Iredell County are growing and residents need connection. By allowing access to a data center, you are limiting resources for residential growth.

A 1.5 million sf data center could consume the equivalent of (this is only the FOOTPRINT of our proposed data center which could be near 6 million):

According to Duke Energy,

1 MW powers 750-1000 homes

Hyperscale data centers:

These massive facilities can easily exceed 100 MW. For example, Stream Data Centers in San Antonio is building a 1.5 million square foot campus that is designed to support 200 MW of IT capacity.

At 200 MW - The proposed data center FOOTPRINT ONLY will use the equivalent of 150,000 - 200,000 homes. (edited: we know know that it will be roughly 360 MW equaling 270,000 - 360,000)

Moreso, if Duke Energy asks for a data center to use back up generators or gas turbines during peak hours when residents are home, there will be 120+ generators in use at one time. There will already by noise pollution, and this will exacerbate it.

Water

Iredell County residents do not want any proposed data center to have access to our ground water. At no time, especially when we are in drought conditions, do we want the data center to be able to use or supplement their water supply with our ground water.

The typical household uses 200 gallons of water daily.

Although the average data center typically consumes roughly 500,000 gallons of water daily, a 1.5 million sf data center typically consumers 1 million to 1.5 million gallons of water daily. (Again, this is only for the FOOTPRINT.)

At 500,000 gallons of water, water usage is equivalent to 2,500 households. At 1.5 million gallons it is equivalent to 7,500 households. Again this is only the FOOTPRINT.

Water consumption will be non-stop. 24/7/365 priority use of water.

If a company decides it wants to use glycol or a similar substance to aid in cooling, there is potential for a leak into our ground water and into Coddle Creek which feeds the Don Howell Reservoir. Needless to say, this is another reason to deny this data center as your residents need potable water.

Noise

As mentioned above, both (120) back up generators or gas turbines will be disturbing loud. Moreso, the hum generated from the massive, 35 acres of data center buildings, will travel. This noise has been known to cause health issues. Our nights are very quiet. There will be a disturbing hum.

Light

Security lighting will cause light pollution.

Physical Presence

These five buildings are proposed to be 1000' x 300' x 100'. No barrier will hide them. A 50' tree will not hide them. Much of the area of the 400 acres will be visible. On Patterson Farm Rd. there are many areas of the 1.5 mile stretch of massive buildings that has little to no tree coverage. On Rustic Rd., ALL buildings will be visible as the topography rises. On Archer Rd. almost all, if not all, of the buildings will be visible. Typography will not allow for barriers and set backs to work.

Clean Up if Board Allows a Data Center

Data centers have a very limited useful life. They are constructed for a specific purpose. If you allow a data center, then you have destroyed this area of Iredell County and Mooresville as the cost to remove only the buildings will exceed the vacant land value. Right now, the average cost to demo a commercial building is between $4-$8. Using $6, looking at a building that is 1000'x300'x100' the cost to demolish one building is $180,000,000. Five buildings is $900,000,000. This amount of negative land value would make the property very difficult to sell or even give away. This is today's cost to demolish a commercial building and does not include removal of any other improvements to the land.

Quick Aside - Political Contributions

Governor Josh Stein's contributors: Of the top 16, 10 are not identifiable. One is a law firm (Cozen O'Connor). One is Duke University. That leaves four: Duke Energy, Red Hat Inc., Meta, Sas Institution. Three of four are AI/data center related and one is Duke Energy.

As a resident of Iredell County who will be greatly affected by a data center, I beg you to look to the city of Peculiar, Missouri. It has removed data centers from its zoning ordinances. They are not allowed. Please leave the legacy of foresight.

Donna Jones

resident

Chris Wilkinson

resident

Kerry Pennell

resident

I am writing to again express my opposition to the proposed data center development in Mooresville and to formally request that Tract immediately withdraw its application. After listening to the recent remarks by Mayor Carney and reviewing the known impacts of this proposal, it is abundantly clear that this project poses more long-term harm than benefit to our community.

The issue of noise pollution is an issue that has not been addressed. As the Mayor noted, “30 decibels is about a quiet room,” and many residents in the proposed area live in environments registering in the mid-30s to low 40s. The data center would introduce constant operational noise in the “mid 40s to mid 50s depending on where you are on their campus". These facts are an undeniable disruption to the quiet rural life that families here deliberately chose.

The power grid concerns are equally alarming. Mayor Carney acknowledged, “Duke Power has been a huge conversation. Will it stress the system?” The answer time and time again, no matter what unfounded promises Tract makes, is a clear: yes. This facility would draw immense amounts of energy from the same grid that supports millions homes in North Carolina. Even if this facility is built elsewhere in close proximity to Mooresville, the strain remains. Bringing it here guarantees we absorb the brunt of that strain. It’s a short-sighted financial gain that favors corporate use over residential stability.

Equally concerning is the issue of water infrastructure and sprawl. Extending a water line to this development opens the door to further unchecked growth. This has always been one of my major concerns. The Mayor warned of the “worry that we would also have tons of houses that would fall in that water line,” and while a rural overlay of “one house per acre” was discussed, the presence of infrastructure alone makes it all but inevitable that denser development will follow. Additionally, the "one house per acre" provision exists only as long as the Board that is in power wants it. This project invites suburban sprawl into an area that has worked hard to preserve its rural identity. Once that door is opened, it cannot be closed. This remains one of the most concerning issues surrounding this project.

Then there is light pollution. The mayor asked a critical question: “How do we keep it from having just terrible pollution out there, where it affects everyone around it?” Let’s be honest—this is a 24/7 industrial complex. The light, like the noise, will not be temporary. It will be constant. And no matter how advanced the lighting packages are, the impact on the night sky, the environment, and residents’ quality of life is unavoidable.

Let’s not forget the visual impact. This is a massive structure with industrial-scale dimensions. Buffers discussions are not taken seriously . This is evidenced by the fact the owner and developer timbered many acres of land AFTER the initial application was submitted. When buffer issues have been discussed everyone fails to state the reality that nothing will truly hide the presence of a data center of this magnitude. It will permanently alter the rural landscape and the view from nearby homes and properties.

The idea of tax revenue is being dangled in front of us like a carrot. We’ve heard promises of “15 to 20 million” for the town and another “15 to 20 million” for the county, along with “a couple three million to the Mooresville Grade School System.” But as the Mayor rightly stated, “That’s a huge if.” Those numbers are speculative. They may change depending on the tax structure, and the eventual operational footprint. This community should not sell its environmental health and character for a number that may never come to pass.

Even traffic—while seemingly less impactful than residential developments—will still add “about 700 movements a day,” according to the Mayor. And once again even that number could grow significantly.

This proposal puts our community at risk. Mooresville residents should not have to continue living under a cloud of uncertainty. It is time to put this matter to rest. Say no to these types of projects in Mooresville once and for all.

I strongly urge Tract to withdraw its proposal immediately. If they do not, I expect for the Mooresville Board of Commissioners to do what is right and deny this request. Our town deserves better than to be used as a test case for an anonymous corporate experiment.

Seems they haven't used AI on their own slides. Todays email:

Mayor and Commissioners,

First off thank you for holding the meeting and most importantly, inviting the public to be present and hear everything first hand. I am proud that several concerns I have heard in the community were brought up and there is agreement that "we aren't close" because of the amount of thoroughly unanswered questions.

That aside, being they are proposing a datacenter based on increased demand due to AI, I figured I would see what AI had to say about it!! I took the entire meeting and ran it through transcription, then fed the entire transcript into ChatGPT and asked for its thoughts on the meeting, while I will send my own thoughts and invites separately, ChatGPT found that their own data doesn't add up.

********************

Highlights Including Poor Communication and Concerns

1. Excessive Length and Rambling Delivery

• The transcript is excessively long and rambling, lacking concise structure.

• Speakers repeat themselves ("thank you, thank you", "we will, we'll", "about about"), indicating poor rehearsal or nervous delivery.

• Important points are buried in long-winded anecdotes, losing audience attention.

2. Lack of Clarity and Technical Overload

• Heavy use of jargon and technical details (e.g., IRP timelines, “binding power agreements”) without explanation for lay audiences.

• Discussion about figure-8 fiber networks, diesel attenuation, or lease cycles may alienate non-technical community members.

3. Glossing Over Community Concerns

• Attempt to address concerns (e.g., light pollution, emissions, land use) were vague or overly defensive:

• “We were asked why it can’t go somewhere else... the answer is it just can’t.”

• “This project would not [happen] if it made the grid unsafe” – a claim that appears dismissive rather than evidence-backed.

4. Superficial Community Engagement

• Claims of community support (like donating to a Wild Horse Association or building police stations) feel tokenistic.

• There’s little mention of actual resident engagement, surveys, or alternatives considered in response to local pushback.

5. Overpromising Economic Impact

• Frequent emphasis on “$100,000/year jobs” and “thousands of jobs” without concrete proof or breakdowns.

• Risks sounding like exaggerated benefits, especially when saying one data center job creates 4-6 outside it – a claim that could be challenged.

********************

I separated some of the transcript due to length and asked it specific concerns or discrepancies from the presentation itself:

• Tract repeatedly claims they take on all risk—but as land gets rezoned and infrastructure built, future buyers/operators (e.g., Amazon) will benefit. Community may be left with long-term impacts but no say in final operators.

• All zoning conditions “run with the land,” but enforcement depends heavily on town oversight

• Wetlands and impervious surface limits are cited, but there is no third-party environmental impact study presented. DEQ approval is “early in process.”

• Noise mitigation is promised, but enforcement mechanisms are unclear beyond “site plan review.”

• 500,000 gallons/day is a significant draw, especially before reuse water infrastructure is complete (~6–8 years).

• No contingency plan if reuse is delayed or capacity proves insufficient.

• Job creation multipliers (4–6 jobs per center job) and tax revenue estimates lack local-specific data or third-party validation.

• No breakdown of how many jobs are retained locally vs. filled by out-of-area specialist

• Need for a Binding agreement on job creation/local hiring targets and infrastructure follow-through.

• Clarify how zoning conditions will be enforced if Tract sells the land.

********************

I then asked it to analyze the Q&A answers they gave and raise any concerns it thought did not have clear and concise answers:

• This “build it and they will come” approach presents a major risk, as future users could demand site plan amendments or relaxations of conditions.

• The developers acknowledged 24/7 noise, particularly from chillers and generators, and did not guarantee zero audible impact.

• No acoustic modeling or decibel predictions under different conditions (seasonal, weather, topography) were presented.

• No commitment to real-time noise monitoring or enforcement mechanisms

• No clarity on treatment requirements for post-evaporation wastewater.

• No modeling of chemical or thermal impact on water treatment plants.

• No cost-sharing commitments for maintenance of underused infrastructure

• No phased traffic mitigation plan or construction-period impact analysis.

• No renderings from residential viewpoints.

• No guarantees on visibility reduction, especially in winter or from elevated homes. (renderings are fully leaved)

• Approving a massive rezoning for a speculative project run by a new, unproven entity may not be in the public’s best interest.

• No enforcement mechanism if the planting/buffer system is inadequate.

• Sound Study: Town would only get hard data after key approvals, and changes would then be the developer’s responsibility to fix.

********************

To me, it seems they should some of the data center and AI power that's already out there to run their presentation through before coming to our town hoping for blanket approvals.

Again thank you all and non-AI generated opinions to follow with more thought.

Other Media Coverage

One of our group members has been actively writing about the data center. You can see her take on the issue: