The Spartanburg County Council held an afternoon special called meeting during Tuesday's election to vote on the second readings of three data center development agreements. The council approved all three on second reading and will advance to third reading.
Resident Mark Gillespie spoke at the public hearing, saying the council did not demonstrate transparency with the special called meeting.
"I want to call out the sheer, undeniable cynicism of scheduling this public hearing at 1 p.m. on Election Day. You chose this time [when] our neighbors are at work, when voters are standing in line at the polls, and when this community's attention is deliberately divided," he said. "This isn't transparency. It's a calculated corporate ambush designed to minimize our voices."
The data centers on the agenda were: Valara Holdings LLC, AIB CLT1 LLC, and 300 Jones Road Associates LLC.
Spartanburg county's development agreement between Numara LLC and Valara Holdings LLC details an anticipated investment from its parent company, Northmark Strategies, of at least $2.75 billion dollars. Northmark Strategies owns approximately 293.637 acres of land in the county and proposes developing a 457 megawatt data center. If approved, the agreement would last 12 years.
Council voted 3-2 on the Valara data center. Councilman Monier Abusaft, who voted in favor of two of the data centers, voted against the Valara data center.
"I believe that these industries will be as transformative to Spartanburg county as BMW was," he said.
However, Abusaft said North Mark Strategies or its lawyers sensed a window to “roll” the county after the company offered environmental protections during the data center moratorium discussions. He says before the county council's previous meeting on October 22, 2026, "they basically gave us an agreement [that] went back on everything they had said."
The development agree says Northmark Strategies have agreed to, "comply with the light and glare, noise and landscaping provisions as set forth in the County's Data Center Moratorium and the county's Performance Zoning Ordinance.
The light and glare provisions in the moratorium say any operation producing light from a non-mobile source can't exceed past a half-foot candle—foot candle is defined as a unit of light intensity, measured one foot from a standard candle—in a Restrictive Development District or at the property line of a protected residential use.
Glare can’t be directed into those areas or into public road travel lanes. It also requires all outdoor lighting to be fully shielded and pointed downward for “dark sky-friendly” purposes, with exceptions for low-wattage landscape lighting and for lighting flags, steeples, and building facades.
The noise section of the moratorium caps noise, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m, as follows:
It also exempts public-road transportation noise, normal residential-living noise (animals, lawn mowers, chain saws), and OSHA/MSHA-required vehicle warning devices during daytime hours (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
The second development agreement is between the county and AIB CLT1 LLC, an already existing data center. AIB is looking to replace their existing data center that's currently a container-style sit, with a standalone information technology or IT megawatt building.
In the development agreement, the company says they will make a "substantial investment" of an estimated $1.2 billion in connection with AIB. Additionally, the company has agreed to following the light and glare, noise, and landscaping provisions outlined in the moratorium.
300 Jones Road Associates LLC, the company behind the 300 Jones Road data center, agreed to an anticipated investment of $1.5 billion of its 65 IT megawatt facility. If approved, the agreement would last five years and they would also agree to follow the Data Center Moratorium's light, noise, and landscaping provisions.
Councilwoman Jessica Coker voted against the AIB and 300 Jones Road data centers, saying it is because of the development agreement's Community Benefit Payment provisions under each agreement's Public Benefits section, which obligates the company shall the money available to things like affordable housing, workforce training, and land conservation.
"I think that the requirement to pay into a fund, just goes against everything that I believe in. It's essentially raising a tax," Coker said. "It's an additional tax on these companies that I don't agree with."
Council will hold a third and final vote on these three data center development agreement's at its next meeting on Monday, Nov. 16.
