Hill County commissioners in rural Texas voted Tuesday to pause new data center construction in unincorporated areas for one year, drawing both industry pushback and warnings about potential legal challenges. The Hill County board approved the moratorium by a 3-2 vote as residents and local officials pressed concerns that the rapidly growing industry is moving into areas without the zoning oversight they say is needed.
Commissioner Jim Holcomb, who voted for the pause, tied the decision to what he described as an uneven regulatory landscape and the speed of incoming projects. “The data center folks have found a sweet spot in the state that has limited regulations, limited enforcement, limited code, and they’re coming faster than we can keep up with,” Holcomb said. He added that the county needed “imperative” action to “tap the brakes” and allow officials to “get our arms around what we’re faced with and do the research, do the studies.”
Holcomb said the moratorium was not aimed at limiting property owners’ rights, saying in a separate comment that the vote was “no way, shape or form a push to impair anyone’s right to do with their own property what they want to do with it.” County Judge Shane Brassell said the pause gives county officials time to study data center impacts before additional projects proceed.
Residents and local officials raised concerns about potential effects on rural quality of life, including noise pollution and large demands for water and electricity tied to a proposed development. The moratorium followed discussions of a plan for a 300-acre project in north Hillsboro by Dallas-based developer Provident Data Centers, according to the report.
Industry representatives urged commissioners to reject the moratorium, saying it would harm the county even as they argued the companies bring money for local schools and roads. Holcomb said he received calls from data center developers as late as 10 p.m. the night before the vote asking him to vote down the moratorium.
County Attorney David Holmes cautioned commissioners before the vote that they risk being sued for passing a moratorium, using the warning that “You’re damned if you and damned if you don’t.” Brassell and at least two commissioners said they expect the county could face lawsuits from data center developers and perhaps the state as well.
Brassell said it was not clear how many data center projects are in the works in Hill County, adding that he knows of at least eight plans being pursued based on informal reports. He said developers are not required to disclose plans to the county, making it difficult, he said, for officials to anticipate the pace and scope of incoming proposals.
The decision comes as Texas counties wrestle with how far local governments can go to slow or shape the data center boom, especially in rural areas where projects move forward into unincorporated parts of the counties. The fight has already played out elsewhere, including in Hood County, where residents sought a similar pause but county commissioners rejected it after pushback from state leaders; state Sen. Paul Bettencourt said in a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that counties lack constitutional or statutory authority to impose moratoriums and asked the attorney general to investigate.
Brassell said the Hill County board decided to move ahead anyway, while describing the vote as an attempt to establish guardrails during what he called a “land rush.” Holcomb said the county’s hope was that state leaders would treat the action not as defiance but as “a plea for help to get some regulations in place to help protect our citizens.”