Citizens continued to clash against the prospect of data centers in Columbia County during the Planning Commission’s meeting, Thursday night.
After quickly going through their other agenda items, planning commissioners considered a text amendment to county ordinances that would add a zoning district designated for data centers.
Planning director Will Butler outlined the stipulations of the ordinance update, drafted at the request of the Board of Commissioners (BOC), that included a 70 decibel noise limit and buffers of 500 feet on all sides from residential properties, 250 feet from all other roads, (though these may be reduced by half if a developer installs a berm, and provides a study sufficiently showing that the facility would not be visible to nearby properties).
Butler also noted an update to recent drafts of the amendment, concerning the use of generators. Whereas a previous version of the amendment required that generators at data facilities be tested only during the work week, the update restricts generator use overall to testing, maintenance or “commissioning activities,” and requires testing minimizes noise and traffic impact.
Some 15 attendees stepped up before the planning commissioners during the public comment portion of the meeting, most decrying the prospect of a new data center district, most using up the full allotted five minutes and most finishing to applause.
“We just want you all to listen to us,” said Grovetown resident Sharon Campbell. “We see the money piece, it’s going to bring jobs, it’s going to bring all these great things. But that doesn’t matter. We move out in this area for a particular reason… sometimes we’ve got to let that money thing go.”
Janice Muller highlighted that the DC zoning would be for potential future data centers, not for the Appling property rezoned S-1 for White Oak Tech Park.
“[Data center developer] Trammell Crow is going to be able to build this under S-1, not these new guidelines,” Muller said before the commissioners. “This is ridiculous… This is where the county did not do its due diligence. It did not look out for its citizens, and time and time again, when we’ve asked ‘please, stop, please don’t do this,’ the response as been ‘well me might get sued,’ or ‘we might lose some money.’ That’s a crying shame.”
Only one person spoke in favor of the proposed new policy: Aaron Bilyeu, chief development officer with Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a data center development firm based in Houston, Texas.
The Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the text amendment, which was met with jeers from the crowd of attendees. One person cried out, “Why even have the meeting?” as many immediately began to walk out of the meeting.
The Board of Commissioners is slated to consider the amendment on Nov. 18, the first of two hearings for the ordinance.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering general reporting for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
