ROCKINGHAM — How much did County Manager Bryan Land know about the sale of land on County Home Road to a data center company?
That question was asked by Commissioner Jamie Gathings during the August meeting of the Richmond County Board of Commissioners.
Following Land’s monthly report to the board, Gathings asked the manager what he knew about the sale of more than 400 acres to Digital Hamlet on July 23.
“I know very little,” Land said. “We had some conversation, just on water flows …”
Land said an introductory email was sent to Economic Developer Martie Butler a day after everything became public: “They reached out and said they were looking forward to doing business with Richmond County.”
“We’re trying to schedule some other meetings with them to have some further conversation,” Land added.
When Gathings asked if he knew anything about the property being sold, Land replied that a group has “had an option on it” for “well over a year, probably.”
“But these are, obviously, individual land sales that take place every day in the state of North Carolina,” Land said. “We weren’t involved with it all.”
Gathings said he is “tired of being beat up by the citizens for not knowing what’s going on in the county.”
“You’ve been knowing — I know for a fact — that you knew the land went under contract June the 22nd,” Gathings continued.
When Land denied prior knowledge, Gathings asked, “Would you like me to read the email?” — eliciting several yeses from those in attendance which, in turn, led to Chairman Jeff Smart banging his gavel.
The email was sent to Land and Public Works Director Jerry Austin on Sunday, June 21 at 10:37 a.m. from Kraig Wasleben of Rogers Consulting and contains a confidentiality notice at the bottom.
In the email, Wasleben said that his company’s clients, Maryland-based real estate development and investment company Nataelli Holdings, had the property under contract — as well as the Sassafras Timber property to the north — and inquired about sewer services.
Gathings then read Land's response, which was sent the following day.
Land said that was the same group that had the property under option, but wasn’t Digital Realty.
County GIS records show Sassafras Timber still owns their property and has since 2009.
Gathings reiterated that he was upset because Land never informed the board.
“We’re going to have to agree to disagree to disagree on this,” Land said, asking for the chairman to move on.
“We(‘re) getting bashed by these people, and I’m tired of it,” Gathings said.
County Manager Bryan Land addresses the Richmond County Board of Commissioners during the August meeting.
William R. Toler - Richmond Observer
Land replied that “there are general statutes in place that count for economic development and we can’t provide all this information to you guys.”
“Mr. Land, you work for this board, we do not work for you,” Gathings said.
“I didn’t say you did, sir,” Land retorted.
“I’m tired of these people coming to me, asking me about stuff going on that you failed to inform this board — it has got to stop,” Gathings said. “You have got to let us know …"
“Are you telling me you want me to break economic development general statutes?” Land asked. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
Land then turned to county attorney Mujeeb Shah-Khan to read the statutes.
“I would just note that there are times (when) some matters are to be discussed publicly,” Shah-Khan said, “but that is a matter that, I think, ... is more for commissioners to discuss with their employee, at the appropriate time, what level of communication they would like to receive from him.”
Gathings said that if people from the community ask him a question, "I would like to be able to answer it and not let Channel 9 news or any citizens tell me what's going on."
Smart then moved the meeting to the next subject, which was the sale of county-owned property to Back Pack Pals.
Earlier in the meeting, several residents used the public comment period to express their concerns about data centers and call for a temporary moratorium on development.
In June 2025, commissioners approved an incentive package for Blue Marlin — which was later revealed to be Amazon Web Services. That project is currently under construction in the Energy Way Industrial Park south of Hamlet.
Amazon is hosting an open house event Sept. 1 at Cole Auditorium.
The Rockingham City Council is also considering rezoning property on Old Cheraw Highway for a data center. A public hearing is scheduled for that board’s September meeting.
