A hard no to high-tech: Canton passes data center moratorium
Residents of Canton aren't exactly eager to replace one industrial behemoth with another.
Cory Vaillancourt photo, Jack Snyder photo illustration
As the sun set over Canton on Feb. 11, the scene at the town’s makeshift municipal building more closely resembled that of a trendy big-city nightclub. More than 100 people had lined up outside, hoping to join the other 49 people who’d pushed the modular double-wide’s fire code to its absolute limit by making it inside. Their minds weren’t focused on drinks or dancing, but instead on data — Big Data, and its effect on small towns.
Calling them dangerous, disruptive and unpredictable, Canton’s governing board went on to pass a 12-month moratorium on high-impact digital infrastructure facilities, including data centers, cryptocurrency mining and server farms.
“In last several weeks, it has been this board’s absolute united front that we see data centers and crypto technology as a present threat to our community that can affect energy, water [and] lifestyle, but can also bring limited amount of jobs and enlarge the tax base,” said Zeb Smathers, Canton’s mayor, at the outset. “All of those can be true, whether you like it or not … The reason that this moratorium brings us all here tonight is that this board feels that data centers and the threat that they could cause to our town, our jurisdiction, is something that is dangerous, unpredictable, and disruptive.”
Although the moratorium applies throughout the town’s jurisdiction, it was aimed squarely at the former Pactiv Evergreen paper mill site, a 185-acre economic development gold mine currently under redevelopment by a private owner.
The site checks all the boxes — it has high-flow natural gas lines, high-speed internet, high-capacity water and sewer, convenient interstate access and the electrical infrastructure Big Data looks for when evaluating potential sites.
Data centers, indispensable in today’s digital economy, carry with them a long list of downsides that have brought increasing scrutiny from residents who don’t want them in their communities, beside their waterways or on their power girds.
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In Cherokee County, a massive cryptocurrency data center that once promised investment and high-tech prestige instead drew national scrutiny in 2022 after residents documented its heavy electricity consumption, limited long-term job creation and persistent low-frequency noise described as resembling “a jet that never leaves.”
Neighbors raised concerns about strain on local power infrastructure, potential upward pressure on utility costs and the environmental implications of running thousands of energy-intensive servers around the clock, particularly in a rural county without abundant excess capacity.
More than 100 people patiently waited outside Canton’s town hall Feb. 11 for their turn to address Canton’s governing board about a proposed data center moratorium. Jack Snyder photo
Complaints also centered on property values and the perception that outside operators captured most of the financial benefit while the community absorbed only the burdens.
Together, those issues transformed what had been marketed as an economic development win into a flashpoint over energy use, land-use compatibility and whether large-scale data operations belong in rural Appalachian mountain communities.
According to the text of Canton’s moratorium, the town had received inquiries about locating high-impact digital operations in the town; given that Canton is only now just beginning to emerge from the shadow of one great big filthy century-old grumbling steam-puffing dragon, residents weren’t exactly enthusiastic about inviting another into their lives.
All it took was a rumor to get the opposition rolling on what would ultimately become a valuable exercise in grassroots democracy.
“I was at a social event and made the acquaintance of an employee of Duke Energy and we got to talking about Canton, and this employee said that he worked on the business development side of Duke Energy and that he was aware that a data center was being planned for the site,” said Haywood County resident Tom Tomaka.
The loss of the paper mill was also a loss for Duke; it’s estimated that the company made millions monthly selling power to the mill.
Tomaka has an academic background in science and technology and beginning in 1983 worked for IBM in sales, marketing and consulting before retiring after 25 years. He began discussing his concerns with a small group, including The Smoky Mountain News, in December 2025. That led to more substantial, formal efforts to ensure community voices were heard.
“I touched base with Tom Tomaka,” said activist/organizer Chelsea White-Hoglen, of Waynesville. “We got a group chat going, and it went from there.”
With others, White-Hoglen organized two “teach-ins” in advance of the Feb. 11 public hearing — one in person at Hive House Commons, one virtual. Together, more than 100 people participated, many of whom were among those lining up outside the meeting.
Despite the building’s maximum occupancy of 49 people, Smathers dutifully made the time and space for every person who wanted to speak. And, with Canton Fire Chief Kevin Wheeler monitoring head count while Canton Police Chief Scott Sluder manned the door, people did indeed speak.
Over the course of two hours, nearly four dozen people cycled through — again, like a crowded nightclub at capacity, one in, one out — to express their concerns about data centers.
Randall Barnes, of Waynesville, spoke first and probably best, like an auctioneer cramming dozens of points into his allotted three minutes. Barnes argued that while construction creates short-term work, long-term staffing is minimal, estimating that even a 100-megawatt facility would employ only about 45 people and that employment would not scale proportionally with size.
Barnes also argued that the energy demand from data centers strains power grids, drives up residential rates and relies heavily on fossil fuels, contributing to air pollution and public health costs. He warned that generous tax exemptions can undercut projected revenue and cited financial struggles in the AI sector and volatility in cryptocurrency markets as evidence the industry itself may not be stable. Noting criticism from politicians across the political spectrum, Barnes closed by urging caution.
“These facts do not paint a picture of a [stable] industry, but rather a bubble which bursts, taking obsolete infrastructure with it,” he said.
Karim Olaechea, deputy director of strategy and communications for Asheville-based MountainTrue, an environmental nonprofit that champions resilient forests, clean waters and healthy communities across the Southern Blue Ridge region, read from a letter sent by MountainTrue and the Southern Environmental Law Center in support of the moratorium.
Olaechea specifically mentioned protecting the “remarkable” biodiversity of the Pigeon River, which rebounded quickly once the mill stopped altering the chemistry and temperature of the river with its treated wastewater.
Of the speakers, only two really voiced any opposition to the moratorium. Jared Black, a Canton native and union electrician who works at a Facebook data center in nearby Forest City, expressed support for building one in Canton and pushed back on claims that such facilities do not create jobs.
“When I get there in the morning, the parking lot's pretty full,” Black said.
Canton CPA and longtime resident Robin Black — Jared Black’s mother — questioned the need for the moratorium, saying she’d like to see more industry on the site and that she doesn’t think it’s suitable for residential development due to decades of pollution.
“We can’t ban everything,” she said. “That’s just not gonna happen.”
She also said she’d like to see the town regain a huge water customer so her rates don’t increase substantially again — after years of kicking the infrastructure can down the road to spare taxpayers, Canton recently raised water and sewer rates substantially.
Both Blacks were treated with respect by the crowd, but their remarks didn’t seem to sway anyone.
Mayor Pro Tem Gail Mull, a mill employee for 30 years who later served as the United Steelworkers union secretary, drew on that experience deep family ties to Canton in explaining her vote.
“With my connections to the past, my feet firmly planted in the present and with both my eyes focused on the future, I cannot in good conscience agree to bring [data centers] to Canton,” Mull said.
Alderman Ralph Hamlett, a retired professor of political communications who also has generational ties to the town, was characteristically elegant and verbose in his introspective commentary, describing the vote as representative decision-making informed by history, including the history of pollution in the Pigeon River.
“I do not want our future generations to ask why we did not give pause — to give pause, to weigh the negative impacts that I believe and the evidence tends to support,” Hamlett said. “I support the moratorium for us, for our children, for their children, for you and for our future.”
Kristina Proctor, a Canton alderwoman in her third term, said the board has been bold in its deliberations over the future of the mill site, but emphasized that the town was “not a playground” for concepts for which long-term impacts are as hazy as the skies above the mill once were.
“You'd be really hard-pressed to find another board in this region that is as supportive of business as ours,” Proctor said. “[But] Support doesn't mean we move forward without discernment.”
Thanking speakers for their participation, Alderman Tim Shepard described the moratorium as a necessary pause to gather data and shape policy going forward — importantly, the moratorium is only for 12 months and can be lifted at any time, but town staff will spend that year crafting a more durable ordinance defining and regulating high-impact development.
“Post-mill Canton gets only a few chances to get what our future looks like right,” Shepard said.
Smathers cast his vote for the moratorium as a moral and generational decision, invoking environmental stewardship, national security concerns and democracy itself.
“I think most are aware this July 4, this country celebrates 250 years, really a small time compared to many other great civilizations that have risen and fallen,” he said. “I have to think that if those founding fathers and their families and women were here and they saw how this played in the last few weeks, in this room tonight they would be at peace knowing that democracy — different opinions for different races, for different viewpoints, for different political backgrounds — is alive and well.”
Although Canton’s statement against Big Data was among the loudest in Haywood County, it wasn’t nearly the first.
On Nov. 1, 2023 Haywood County commissioners passed amendments to its high impact development ordinance, including strict separation, setback, buffer and screening requirements meant to get ahead of the issue. Commissioner Tommy Long championed the amendments.
“I applaud Canton for passing a moratorium, because data centers are a huge drain on infrastructure. It’s not a job creator and they historically haven’t been good neighbors in other counties,” said Long, a former mill employee who added that he hopes the town is holing out for employers that would bring hundreds of jobs in a more community-friendly fashion.
Long’s background is as an electronics technician. He said he believes that committing such a substantial amount of electric capacity to just one facility at the site would leave little for other development.
Two weeks after Haywood County acted, the Town of Waynesville passed text amendments to its land development standards on November 14, 2023, banning cryptocurrency mining operations in all zoning districts and restricted data centers to commercial/industrial districts.
“It’s resource-intensive, it’s horrible for the environment and we don’t have the resources for it,” said Waynesville Alderman Anthony Sutton, who has a tech background and voted to support the changes. “Waynesville is not that large, and data centers are extremely noisy. It would take up electricity we do not have, water we do not have.”
And, Canton’s moratorium may spur others to act. Amy Russell, who sits on the governing board of the Town of Clyde — just downriver from Canton — was at the Canton meeting and said her town would consider such a moratorium, likely in April.
Asked for his reaction to the Canton moratorium, Eric Spirtas, owner of the mill site, said he’d continue working with all relevant jurisdictions during redevelopment.
“Anything we do is always in coordination with the town, county and state in which we develop,” Spirtas told SMN. “We always seek local input for projects that benefit the town and the people living and working here. We all want a thriving community.”
Spirtas also doubled down on something he’s said multiple times — redevelopment should be locally driven and beneficial for all parties involved.
“We’re in the early stages of conversations with a number of parties regarding a variety of potential future uses throughout the site,” he said. “Any specific use being discussed publicly about our property would be premature, but the community can rest assured that any future use will put the entire community’s interests first.”
