Pocomoke City, M.d - The City of Pocomoke is holding a meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. where city officials will discuss a proposed moratorium on data centers.
City Mayor Todd Nock tells WBOC that if the moratorium is approved, it will last one year from the adoption of the resolution.
Local resident Clark Higgs says he knows not a lot of people want data centers in their neighborhoods, including him.
“I wouldn't want it to take up valuable land and space and make a lot of noise and use a lot of water,” he says. “I wouldn't want to have to pay for it to be built or to keep it running or anything. I wouldn't want my taxes going up.”
Reginold Mintz lives in Crisfield, but makes trips to Pocomoke City often. He is against a data center in the city.
“I think that if you're going to employ a data center, you have to look at all of the parameters,” he says. “That's what you got take into consideration, not just the economic, but the environmental, of course. You got local people who have to deal with the output of a data center. What does it put out? Does it put out noise? Does it put out pollution? Whatever it puts out, we have to deal with that in terms of results.”
Although Mintz is not a fan of data centers, he understands their intention.
“In general, I think data centers have a purpose. But the purpose of a data center is hopefully to help with technology such as AI and those kinds of things.”
The meeting is only a first reading of establishing the temporary moratorium on data centers.
