• Carroll County has paused data-centre approvals in unincorporated areas for 12 months while it develops permanent rules
  • Fayetteville and Little Rock are still allowing projects to proceed, but under tighter planning, utility and operating requirements

The fact

Arkansas local governments are taking different approaches to data-centre development. In June, Carroll County adopted Emergency Ordinance 2026-17, introducing a 12-month moratorium on approvals for high-impact industrial and digital infrastructure in unincorporated areas. The pause gives the county time to develop a permanent permitting process and clearer public-notice rules.

Fayetteville has chosen regulation rather than a pause. Ordinance 7010, adopted on 16 June, makes data centres a conditional use in the city’s General Industrial district, meaning projects require Planning Commission approval. Applicants must also provide information on utility capacity, water use and electricity demand. Little Rock took a similar approach, approving its own data-centre standards on 2 June instead of imposing a moratorium.

Pulaski County tried to introduce a year-long pause in May, but the measure did not take effect after the county clerk corrected the vote count. County Attorney Hamilton Kemp had also questioned whether a moratorium could conflict with state law limiting local restrictions on data-centre permits.

The assessment

The approval process now varies by jurisdiction. In Carroll County, covered projects cannot move forward during the moratorium. Fayetteville is still accepting applications, but data centres are treated as conditional uses and must go through Planning Commission review. Little Rock has also chosen to regulate new projects rather than pause them altogether.

For developers, site selection in Arkansas now involves more than finding land and power. They also need to check whether the local authority is accepting applications and what information it requires on utilities and site impacts. Pulaski County adds further uncertainty. Its failed moratorium showed that local governments may not have complete freedom to pause data-centre development, leaving the limits of their authority unresolved.

For BTW readers, Arkansas is no longer a single permitting environment. A project may be temporarily blocked in one jurisdiction but allowed to proceed under additional conditions in another. Those differences can influence how developers judge whether a site is ready and how they plan the work needed before construction begins.

What to Watch

Watch the permanent rules Carroll County writes during its 12-month pause and the first data-centre applications tested under Fayetteville’s conditional-use framework. A court ruling or state legislation clarifying how far cities and counties can restrict data-centre permits would also affect whether Arkansas’s local approval paths remain different or begin to converge.