ECO TIP West, LLC v. Chatham County, North Carolina (Data Center Moratorium Vested-Rights Ruling)

Zoning & Land Use Ruling Issued
Date
September 22, 2026
Added to tracker
October 27, 2026
Court or forum
Superior Court of Chatham County, North Carolina
State
North Carolina
Presiding judge
John Morris
Amount / scale
$11 million invested in the project; county ordered to pay undisclosed damages for the delay
Parties
Plaintiff: ECO TIP West, LLCDefendant: Chatham County, North Carolina

A Chatham County, North Carolina judge granted summary judgment to data center developer ECO TIP West, ruling its $11 million project had vested rights predating the county's moratorium and ordering the county to pay damages for the delay.

Chatham County Superior Court Judge John Morris granted summary judgment to ECO TIP West, LLC in a ruling reported September 22, 2026, holding that the company's planned 750-megawatt data center at the Triangle Innovation Point West parcel near Moncure could proceed despite the county's 12-month data-center moratorium. ECO TIP West had sued the county on April 23, 2026, arguing that a zoning permit it received on October 29, 2025, more than three months before the February 11, 2026 moratorium, gave it a statutory vested right under North Carolina's Chapter 160D and N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 160D-107(c) that the moratorium could not override.

Why it matters

The ruling is among the first North Carolina trial court decisions to resolve the vested-rights question now pending in roughly thirty other local jurisdictions statewide that have adopted similar data-center moratoria, and it did more than exempt the project -- it ordered the county to pay damages for the delay. Counties considering a data-center moratorium should inventory recently approved permits before adopting one, and developers with permits predating a moratorium should treat this ruling as persuasive authority for their own vested-rights claims.

Original source ↗

Part of the Data Center Litigation Tracker: every related matter in one table.

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A North Carolina trial judge has ruled that a data center developer's project can proceed despite a county-wide moratorium, offering one of the first clear answers to a legal question now pending in dozens of jurisdictions across the state: does a developer who secured zoning approval before a moratorium took effect have a vested right to keep building anyway? In a summary judgment order reported September 22, 2026, Chatham County Superior Court Judge John Morris sided with the developer, ECO TIP West, LLC, finding no genuine issue of material fact and ruling that the company was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Case timeline · 4 entries Latest: September 22, 2026 — Judge John Morris grants summary judgment to ECO TIP West and orders the county to pay damages for the delay

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