“3 things happening in NC” is Cardinal & Pine’s weekly guide to the people, storylines, and events driving the news this week in North Carolina. Here’s what you’ll find this week:
- Raleigh could be forced to allow data center, despite new moratorium
- Charlotte has a big jail problem. They hope this will help.
- Vale takes visitors back in time with 41st annual Hart Square Fall Heritage Festival
Early voting got off to a promising start last week, with 201,609 votes cast in person on Thursday, the first day of early voting in North Carolina. According to Democracy NC, that compares to 187,000 cast on the first day of the 2022 midterms.
The momentum continued into the weekend, nearly reaching 400,000 total votes cast in person by the end of Friday, a 48% increase compared to 2022, WRAL reported.
Now as the first full week of early voting gets started, it’s important for North Carolinians to keep that energy. This is usually my time to vote, when the lines die down following the surge of the first few days, so join me this week if you haven’t been to the polls yet.
In the meantime, let’s jump into three more stories and events you should be checking for this week across North Carolina.
Raleigh could be forced to allow data center, despite new moratorium
It has not yet been a week since Raleigh City Council adopted a six-month moratorium on data center applications and permitting, and already a court ruling is bringing up questions over whether the city will need to allow a 100,000-square-foot data center proposed for Jones Sausage Road.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, two days after Raleigh adopted its moratorium, a judge in neighboring Chatham County ruled that developers who had proposed a data center there could move forward with their project, citing violations of state law in Chatham’s 12-month moratorium.
Developers with Eco TIP West filed suit against Chatham County in April, citing state law that prohibits local municipalities from downsizing in their zoning policy or halting the work of developers who had already put work into a project.
As reported by the News & Observer, state law exempts any project “for which substantial expenditures have already been made in good‑faith reliance on a prior valid development approval, or to preliminary or final subdivision plats that have been accepted for review by the local government prior to the call for a hearing to adopt the moratorium.”
Radius DC had already been told it could build a data center on a lot off Jones Sausage Road if it’s approved for annexation in southeast Raleigh. Officials with the company have said they still plan to pursue the project despite the moratorium.
Raleigh City Council, which discussed the pending Chatham County case before adopting its own moratorium, is scheduled to hold two work sessions on Tuesday, during which representatives will surely discuss the implications of last week’s ruling and how to move forward with the Radius DC project.
Charlotte has a big jail problem. They hope this will help.
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) has struggled with overcrowding at its Uptown jail and staffing shortages for much of the year, but this week could mark a turn for the department as a new partnership with the federal government promises to replenish the coffers.
After reopening its Jail North facility in north Charlotte to help relieve overcrowding in September, the MCSO announced last week that it is partnering with the US Marshals Service to relocate federal detainees from detention facilities outside of North Carolina to facilities in Mecklenburg County.
A release from MCSO insisted the deal will have positive results for both agencies as well as inmates, as those who have been detained across Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, and Kentucky will be brought closer to their loved ones and legal representation.
The deal will also help solve the funding issue that came with reopening Jail North in September, when Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden admitted to WSOC that MCSO had neither the funding nor the staffing to effectively operate both county jails.
“We robbed Peter to pay Paul. We do not have adequate staffing to run both facilities, but we can’t wait any longer and had to open this on an emergency basis,” he said in September.
In Thursday’s release announcing the new deal, McFadden spoke with more confidence.
“Housing federal detainees in Mecklenburg County whose cases are pending in this district not only brings millions of federal dollars to North Carolina that otherwise went to other states, it benefits the federal justice system,” he wrote. “It means defendants are closer to their attorneys—making it easier to prepare their defense and thus move cases faster—and closer to their families, which makes rehabilitation and reentry to society more likely to be successful.”
About 400 detainees are expected to move into Jail North and the Mecklenburg County Detention Center – Central over the coming weeks.
Vale takes visitors back in time with 41st annual Hart Square Fall Heritage Festival
The western Piedmont town of Vale is hosting one of the state’s most interesting autumn festivals in the state this weekend with the 41st annual Hart Square Fall Heritage Festival. The immersive living-history experience brings visitors back to the early 19th century, with hundreds of guides and historic demonstrators sharing the traditional crafts, trades and daily life of Carolina’s pioneers.
As you wander Hart Square Village, the nation’s largest collection of historic log structures, you’ll learn about flax making, cotton baling, tinsmithing, and apple butter making, all to the soundtrack of live old-time music.
Check out the website for more info about this one-of-a-kind event, including a map of the impressive village comprising 103 cabins.
The site quotes North Carolina artist Bob Timberlake in his praise for Hart Square: “I’ve visited Colonial Williamsburg, almost grew up in Old Salem, and I’ve seen other restored places all over North America, and nothing compares with Hart Square Village just south of Hickory.”
