About 100 people attended a community meeting focused on a proposed data center development in Wake County.

The 250-megawatt facility would be built on a nearly 200-acre site on Shearon Harris Road.

Other WRAL Top Stories

The proposed development has garnered vocal pushback from New Hill residents.

Michael Natelli, President of Natelli Holdings Company, told WRAL this was their second neighborhood meeting, after a meeting with the Environmental Advisory Board and the town of Apex’s planning staff.

"We're still in this rezoning process. At some point, we'll go before the planning board, and then we'll go before the council. I'm thinking that's probably going to be in the springtime, depending on how it all unfolds,” Natelli said. "The town of Apex has designated this area that includes our property as an industrial development area. We're proposing to rezone it into the town under a light industrial zone that follows that designation."

Neighbors’ concerns center on environmental impact, including water usage and light and sound pollution.

Some, such as 34-year resident Gerald Ramoin, also have concerns about traffic.

"Traffic is starting to get really bottlenecked because of poor planning, quite frankly, and this is just going to add more to that,” Ramoin said. “From a nuisance standpoint, it sounds like it could be a concern." 

Much of the question-and-answer portion of the 90-minute meeting was focused on sound issues, with residents asking about the company’s other projects, and their commitment to ensuring less noise.

Natelli said sound would come from backup generators, which would only be running during emergencies.

"We're going to create basically a new sound ordinance that's going to apply to our property, we're going to impose it on ourselves,” he said. “We're going to set very rigorous standards that would apply to us."

Residents after the meeting told WRAL they remain concerned about the impact of the development.

"The reason why I came here, this area, we wanted a more rural setting,” Ramoin said. “It's starting to fill up, so we're trying to, as citizens and the community, we're trying to go - how much more can we bring on and still have that quality that we were looking for when we built 34 years ago."

The developer tells WRAL they are still in the rezoning process. They will still have to go before the planning commission, and then the town council, likely next spring.

The company has also launched a new project page that can be viewed here.