Hailey Vang stands in her kitchen, looking out the window. Just beyond her backyard, construction cranes rise over a field of dirt and dust.
She’s lived here for 18 years and says that ever since Microsoft started building a data center in 2024, she’s been dealing with constant noise and dust.
"As homeowners, what are we supposed to do at this point?"
She wishes Microsoft would put up a barrier or some kind of wall.
"So we don’t have to see anything, or to help block the noise."
But she’s not convinced it would solve the problem. She says she never imagined she’d have to prepare for a data center in her backyard.
"I just don’t think, as your common neighborhood, as your common civilian, you understand exactly what all that entails when they build it right in your backyard"
Her home is one of about two dozen on Smithfield Drive, which is now surrounded on three sides by construction for a new data center, one of four planned for Catawba County.
When the county announced the projects in 2022, they were met with a standing ovation by county officials and civic leaders.
Catawba County Economic Development President Scott Millar says the data centers represent a way for the county to diversify its economic portfolio after major job losses in the county’s manufacturing industry.
"So here in 2002, we lost 45,000 jobs as a result of just the cyclical nature of industry, and so you know, we decided that we had to become more diversified."
Millar says Apple's Maiden data center proved the model could work, bringing billions in investment. The county then pursued more projects.
"Over the next 10 years, that was a very, I'm going to say, good choice to further expand our economic portfolio and sort of shore up the tax base without attacking the existing industry."
Catawba County Commission Chair Randy Isenhower says he understands residents’ frustration, especially during construction.
"I sympathize to some degree with what they're going through, but at some point that's going to be, that's going to be done."
And he argues the money coming in from data centers could help the county in the long run.
"For every billion dollars they give, that’s a penny and a quarter on the tax rate. So it will help reduce, in the long run, people’s property taxes, and it’ll help fund local governments, the necessary local government services, such as fire, police, EMS, schools, parks, and libraries.”
He also says Microsoft has agreed to give up its local tax incentives.
In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson says the company is working to reduce construction impacts and is committed to responsible development.
But in the Lyle Creek neighborhood, residents say that they’re not satisfied.
Standing at her kitchen counter, Hannah Mullis says the construction dust continues to build up around her home, forcing her mother to pressure wash the outside several times a month, and she says people in her home have asthma.
"The air pollution, specifically, I think that’s what’s killing this neighborhood at least.”
And residents also worry about their property values.
Staring out her window, Vang says she doesn't know if anyone will want to buy her home if she decides to sell.
"I can imagine in the future, once it's up and established, it probably will bring down our values, because who's going to want to live, you know, with a data center in their backyard?"
And it’s that future that keeps her up at night.
"Are we going to be stuck here with that in our backyard, not being able to sell, not being able to get into a new home to get away from this? You know, is Microsoft going to help us out with that? Are they going to do anything with it, you know, for us when it comes to something like that? I don't know."
She shakes her head. Behind her, outside the kitchen window, the construction cranes still tower over her yard. It’s Sunday night, and construction is stopped for the day, but tomorrow morning the work will continue.
