Trammell Crow, developer of the proposed data center at the upcoming White Oak Tech Park, may seek to build its facility under Columbia County’s proposed new zoning.
During the monthly meeting of the Economic Development Authority of Columbia County’s (EDACC) Property Development Committee on Friday, one of three EDACC committee meetings held that morning, executive director Cheney Eldridge noted to board members that Trammell Crow may plan to apply to rezone a portion of the subject Appling property to Data Center (D-C) zoning district, in order “to be good partners” with the county.
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In April, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners (BOC) approved EDACC’s request to rezone 1,900 acres of its property in Appling from Residential Agricultural (R-A) to Special district zoning (S-1) to allow for an expansion at White Oak to include a data center.
On Thursday, Nov. 6, the Columbia County Planning Commission unanimously approved the planning department’s text amendment in county ordinances, drafted at the behest of the BOC, that would establish the DC zoning district, amid vocal opposition from many residents.
Several speakers during that meeting raised the concern of whether Trammell Crow would be obligated to develop a data center under the S-1 zoning or the new D-C classification.
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“We really had to create something from scratch, and a lot of that was used for this new zoning designation,” said Eldridge during Friday morning’s meeting. “But the county went and visited lots of communities that have a lot of data centers, talked to them about what you have, what do you wish you had, and put something together that’s more robust than S-1.”
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to have its first of two hearings considering the new text amendment during its meeting on Nov. 18.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering general reporting for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
