SC county passes third and final reading on data center moratorium

Colleton County, South Carolina has passed a six-month moratorium on data center development following citizen opposition and a pending lawsuit over an 850-acre proposed facility in the ACE Basin. The pause gives county officials time to review zoning codes and comprehensive plans before deciding whether and where data centers should be permitted. If you're planning to build data centre capacity in the US Southeast, the regulatory ground is shifting fast—twelve states and 100 local jurisdictions have now moved to block or delay projects, and six months is the window before Colleton County decides whether to allow them at all. The lawsuit pause buys you time to engage with planning processes, but also signals that rural zoning is now a battleground.