Lawsuit Challenges Spartanburg County’s Review of $2.8B NorthMark Data Center Expansion

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A group of Spartanburg County property owners has sued the county over how it is reviewing the next phase of construction at NorthMark Strategies’ data center on South Pine Street, arguing the $2.8 billion project should not be allowed to bypass a public hearing before the county Planning Commission.

The lawsuit, filed July 6 in the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court by a group called Concerned Citizens of Spartanburg County, contends that Valara Holdings, a NorthMark subsidiary, applied for the next construction phase as a “minor land development,” a designation that does not trigger planning commission review. County land-use rules require commission review, including a formal public comment period, for “major land developments,” a category that includes large commercial and industrial projects. The application in question covers a 450-megawatt natural gas power plant that would generate electricity on site for the computing facility, which is being built on the former Kohler Co. manufacturing property.

A Question of Classification

“This is about transparency and public information,” said Frank Holleman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the citizens group. Holleman said he hopes Spartanburg County will “voluntarily” redesignate the project as a major land development and send it to the planning commission, adding that the construction already under way “is a major development by every commonsense meaning.” If the county declines, the suit asks a judge to force the issue.

NorthMark director of external affairs Sarah Knox said the company “has been transparent with county and state officials since the earliest stages” of the project and is committed to being a good community partner. Spartanburg County officials did not respond to a request for comment on the litigation.

Air Permit Fight Runs on a Parallel Track

The land-use suit is unfolding alongside a separate, high-profile state review. The S.C. Department of Environmental Services is weighing an air-quality permit application, filed in March, for 11 additional natural gas turbines at the site — on top of 24 generators already approved. DES held a public hearing on the application June 25 at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium that drew hundreds of attendees, most opposed. “The lack of transparency around this data center proposal is stunning even for a data center,” Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Emily Wyche said at the hearing. Rhonda Thompson, chief of DES’s Bureau of Air Quality, told attendees the permit decision would rest on regulatory criteria rather than public sentiment: “It’s based on the regulatory requirements — the federal and state air quality requirements. So our decision will be based on that.” DES is accepting written comment on the permit through July 31 and has said a final decision could take several months.

County Weighing a Broader Pause

The disputes come as Spartanburg County Council moves toward a one-year moratorium on new data center land-use applications, intended to give county planners and state lawmakers time to set clearer rules for the industry. Council gave first-reading approval to the moratorium June 22, though the measure explicitly exempts NorthMark’s already-approved project. “We need to take the time to do the science — let’s do the research, the homework, make sure we’re making the right decisions for the residents of Spartanburg County,” council member Grant DeShields said.

Together, the lawsuit and the pending permit decision underscore a broader question facing Upstate counties as power-hungry data centers compete for industrial sites: how existing zoning and land-development codes, largely written before this wave of investment, should classify and review projects of this scale.