Tuesday, May 27, 2025–9:30 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The Floyd County Commission approved a rezoning request for a proposed data center near the Coosa High School campus following a public hearing on Tuesday.
During the public hearing, some residents of the area expressed opposition while others had questions about issues ranging from the amount of water and power the data center will need to the impacts of heavy industrial zoning near homes and the school.
“We have experienced burning bans, we have experienced watering restrictions where we could not water our lawns,” said Alan Brinson. “So, if that is already a problem, when we go to using an additional several million gallons of water, I am worried about that.”
Meanwhile, Wendy Lignell told the commission that the families in the area and the community deserve more assurances.
“The risks to our neighborhood, our schools, our water, our power, and our quality of life are simply just too great,” she said. “We urge you, please, not to rush into this decision.”
The Floyd County Board of Education sold the property to the developer with the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority serving as a go-between. Floyd County School Superintendent Glenn White spoke in favor of the rezoning.
“I’ve said this before and I will say it again—if I thought this would endanger the safety of our students, my answer would be absolutely not,” he said. “I have not seen anything that indicates that this would threaten the safety of our students.”
Planning staff has noted that, in general, data centers have a very limited impact on traffic, streets, or schools. However, they do require a substantial amount of water and electricity, as well as fiber optic.
“The reason why they [data center developers] are looking here is that we have the water resources,” said Floyd County Commissioner Scotty Hancock. “Floyd County did not recruit them. They came to us with this project. Nobody on this board is looking for data centers to come to this community. They are coming to us, and I can assure you that we have had conversations, as a board, to put a moratorium on them because there are only so many of them our community can absorb.”
Conditions placed on the rezoning include the property being used only for a data center or for uses that directly support a data center.
Also, the exterior lighting is limited to dark-sky lighting to prevent light trespass onto adjacent properties, and there are noise limits that will be in place.
The commission is also requiring a 100-foot undisturbed buffer to adjacent properties, and no variance granted for the 200 foot buffer along the southern property line.