ATLANTA – Environmental advocates and community activists Tuesday supported a proposal to add data centers to the list of large development projects subject to state review.
But they also called for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to lower the threshold for projects that fall under the agency’s definition of “developments of regional impact” (DRIs).
The DCA is proposing new rules that would create a category of DRIs called “technological facility” to include data centers, as well as two other new categories for solar power generating facilities such as solar farms as well as truck stops.
The DCA acted after officials from regional planning commissions across the state asked the agency to add data centers to its DRI rules to help guide local governments in processing developers’ applications for the growing number of data centers springing up in Georgia. Data centers use massive amounts of electricity and water, prompting worries that they will suck up finite resources.
Some local governments have responded to the wave of data centers by restricting them or banning them outright. The Atlanta City Council voted in June to prohibit data centers from setting up in some neighborhoods and require developers to seek a special-use permit for construction.
In May, the Coweta County Commission approved a moratorium on data centers after a developer proposed Project Sail, a massive 13-building data center on more than 800 acres along U.S. 27 near Newnan.
“We need some type of protection at the state level,” Wanda Mosley, a community organizer from the city of South Fulton, said Tuesday during a public hearing on the new rules hosted by the DCA.
The proposed rules would require developers of data centers to disclose information about each project’s energy and water needs.
In cities and suburbs, the rules would apply to data centers covering more than 300,000 square feet. Data centers in rural areas would not come under the rules unless they cover more than 500,000 square feet.
But on Tuesday, Amy Sharma, who chairs the nonprofit Georgia Water Coalition’s data center committee, suggested the DCA lower the threshold of data center projects that would fall under the new rules to those that cover more than 250,000 square feet, regardless of whether they’re in cities, suburbs, or rural communities.
Others who spoke during Tuesday’s public hearing complained that data centers generate a lot of noise in the neighborhoods where they’re sited, create few local jobs, and result in permanent rezonings that remove land from agricultural use.
Data center supporters have countered that they produce valuable property tax revenue, particularly in rural communities with inadequate tax bases.
The DCA is accepting public comment on the proposed rules through Friday. The agency’s board will vote on them Nov. 20.