Mooresville Commissioners Set To Deny Teresa Earnhardt’s Bid To Build Data Center On Dale’s Beloved Land

As they absolutely should.

For quite a few months now, there’s been an ongoing debate and fight over what’s to become of the land that belonged to the late, great Dale Earnhardt. Last year, his widow, Teresa Earnhardt, put in a request to have it all rezoned for a $30 billion industrial complex called Mooresville Technology Park in Mooresville, North Carolina, the town where Dale owned his Dale Earnhardt Inc. race team and lived nearby.

Now, Teresa doesn’t exactly have the best reputation with fans of NASCAR and her late husband, many of whom even refer to her as “The Wicked Witch of the South.” There are plenty of reasons as to why that is, which you can read more about HERE. Bottom line is, she’s not a favorite among NASCAR fans or North Carolinians, and this is thankfully something we have some say in, though it’s been heading in the wrong direction very fast.

She and Kerry Dale Earnhardt, the eldest son of Dale Sr., in particular, have had some issues in the past. She previously sued him over sued over the use of the “Earnhardt” name when he launched his own lifestyle brand, The Earnhardt Collection, back in the early 2010s. More on that HERE. Kerry in particular has been very vocal about this issue, which we’ll get to.

The Background And Why Teresa Wanted To Rezone

In October of last year, there was a highly-attended board meeting of almost 200 neighbors, including Rene Earnhardt, wife of, Kerry, who all urged the Mooresville Planning Board to recommend denial of Teresa’s request. They denied it with a vote of 8-0, which was a great sign. The industrial park would sit on 399 acres of beautiful countryside, in one of the less populated areas of the county, on the eastern side of Iredell. According to The Charlotte Observer, “board member Shaun Hooper made the motion against the request, agreeing with residents that the proposal was out of character with Mooresville’s more agricultural, less populated eastern side.”

Of the 13 speakers who encouraged the board to vote against the proposal, at one point, one of them asked everyone who was at the meeting and opposed to the rezoning to stand up, and the entire crowd stood up. Literally only one person wants this to happen…

While many were hopeful things were headed in the right direction after that meeting, unfortunately, Teresa received approval by Mooresville planners in May to put a major data center campus on her 400 wooded acres. The Mooresville Planning Board this time voted 4-3 to recommend a rezoning of Teresa’s land for what they’re calling Mooresville Technology Park, which meant things were not looking good for everyone who was against it.

It wasn’t the final say, though, because the Mooresville Board of Commissioners still need to have a final vote on the rezoning at a meeting that was just announced to be happening next month on September 15th, and the board typically votes on a rezoning the night of the public hearing.

Planners say the park would bring 277 “recession-resistant” jobs (whatever that means), which would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for Mooresville and Iredell County as a whole over the next 20 years, according to Mooresville Technology Park.com. They estimated tax revenue to be in “the multiple billions of dollars,” but the destruction is would cause is priceless, though obviously I know developers could not care less about that.

Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that area has already, very sadly, been overdeveloped to the max, and thousands of people have moved to the town over the last several years. It’s completely out of control for what was once a quaint small town with tons of gorgeous land, and Dale Earnhardt is obviously a main fixture around race city, how many people refer to Mooresville.

Kerry Earnhardt Speaks Out Against It

I’m personally just so tired of seeing these types of things destroyed for the sake of money, and while I don’t know Teresa’s personal financial situation or what would lead her to do something like this, I think it’s gross to she would sell her husband’s land, that meant so much to him, to put a data center there. It’s shameful, and it’s wrong, but it’s hers to sell and that’s the saddest part about it.

There’s more information on why the people of Mooresville are so against it at their website nodatacentermooresvillenc.com, and I think the reasoning against is something most people can understand and dare I say, would probably agree with. Aside from the fact that it’s Dale Sr.’s land, why would anyone want to live near something like this? The fact that it’s his land is only part of the many problems with this whole bunch of crap.

If it all goes through, the the first building would be completed in 2029. Teresa Earnhardt hasn’t attended any of the meetings in person, but sent others to speak on her behalf. I know she’s an aging woman, and in some aspects I feel for her, I genuinely do, but she has had a bad reputation for years, and that makes it really hard to be sympathetic when it comes to something like this…

Now Teresa is trying to sell off Dale’s farm and turn it into an industrial park. Greediest woman alive.

— The Catch Fence (@TheCatchFence) October 19, 2024

But there’s one person who is continuing to speak out about all of this, and that would be the aforementioned Kerry Earnhardt. He and his wife, Rene, have been extremely vocal about their disapproval of this concept, and have attended the meetings and done everything they can to stop it.

And on X earlier this week, he ripped his stepmother for what she’s trying to do, saying his late father would be “livid” to have his named “associated in this title,” and while I obviously never knew him, based on everything I have heard and know about Dale Sr., I completely agree he would want NO part of this whatsoever.

Kerry went onto say that it will change the lives of the people who call the area home “forever,” and will deplete natural resources and harm wildlife in the process:

“Dad would be livid, his name is associated in this title! Data Centers don’t belong in neighborhoods… natural resources are depleted, wildlife uprooted! The landscape, lives that call this home… forever changed. Build homes w/people loving the land we live as land it’s intended!”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, and I can only imagine how awful this has been for them as people who not only live very close to where this is potentially happening, but as a son who just has to stand by and watch:

Dad would be livid, his name is associated in this title!Data Centers don’t belong in neighborhoods..natural resources are depleted, wildlife uprooted! The landscape, lives that call this home..forever changed. Build homes w/people loving the land we live as land it’s intended! https://t.co/d354jhNjWY

— Kerry Dale Earnhardt (@KerryDEarnhardt) July 31, 2025

Mooresville Town Commissioners Set To Deny Rezoning Request

While many of us were fearing the worst for this outcome, truly, it sounds like it’s not going to become a reality. The Charlotte Observer spoke to Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney this week, who says the Town Commissioners plan to deny Teresa’s rezoning request if it comes to a vote. Due to the fact that it’s still unknown which tech company will purchase it, he and the six commissioners cannot support the data center.

He explained that he and the commissioners “went and looked at what Amazon does versus what Microsoft does, which is different than Apple, Google, and they all kind of have their own thing. And there are some that have been done really well. But without knowing who it is you’re eventually going to end up with, it’s almost impossible to make a decision.”

They will vote next week on September 15th, and if the commissioners end up in a three-to-three deadlock, Carney would cast the tie breaking vote. Carney even told developer, Tract, that the board was likely to deny the request.

Carney explained that they have tried to get answers from Tract on who would ultimately own the project, but they never got answers and it’s been over a year of trying at this point:

“Their model is to get it built and then go find the user, and I guess that’s the way the world likes to work now,” Carney said. “I get that. If I’m Apple, I don’t want to be building a campus. I want somebody to build it for me, and then I can just move in, right? At the end of the day, the only thing that makes sense about a data center to a municipality is, are you going to collect a lot of tax dollars. It is a financial decision.”

He doesn’t feel this deal is “make or break” for the town of Mooresville, and risks ultimately outweigh the rewards:

“There are so many opportunities with us in Mooresville for industry to come and bring great jobs, we really don’t need to blindly swing. And I think this not knowing who the final partner is, is not going to help us with purposeful growth.”

Considering most people in the are also vehemently against it, not only because of the fact that it meant so much to Dale but because of how it would affect their current daily lives, I have felt from the beginning this was the right decision, though truthfully didn’t think this would be the outcome.

The Wicked Witch of the South strikes again, but this time, she is likely going to be unsuccessful with her plans and I am over the moon to hear that the commissioners are planning to make right call here, and honestly, pretty surprised considering the type of money that is involved. Kerry and his wife should sleep well at night knowing they’ve played a large roll in stopping it, like I imagine their father might have wanted considering how much he loved his land.

Dale Earnhardt did so much to make the town and area what it is, and this large area of land was his peace and respite from a busy schedule where he worked tirelessly to become the best at what he does. The land deserves to be respected, cherished and taken care of responsibly, and even if is wife might not agree, at least the people with the ultimately say so can see that.

DALE YEAH!

Neil Bonnett and Dale Earnhardt went fishing on an episode of TNN Winners. pic.twitter.com/CwDjutMiQn

— NASCAR Memories (@NASCARMemories) July 7, 2017

The post Mooresville Commissioners Set To Deny Teresa Earnhardt’s Bid To Build Data Center On Dale’s Beloved Land first appeared on Whiskey Riff.