The Camden County Board of Commissioners will vote on Tuesday on whether to adopt a nine-month moratorium on data centers amid growing concern across the state about the energy-hungry operations.
The county’s proposal comes amid speculation that a Florida-based businessman has requested rezoning of his land located in Kingsland and the county for an industrial park to allow for data centers.
Cody Smith, District 3 Camden County Commissioner, who supports the moratorium, says that while he succeeded in getting the issue placed on the agenda, there is no guarantee that his resolution will pass.
“I’m not sure, but it seems like they are more in favor of trying to get something in place and just forgo the whole moratorium. So, to answer your question, I couldn’t tell you what will happen on Tuesday. I mean, I can hope that we will just take a breath and do things the right way. But I can’t say for sure,” Smith said.
The rezoning request on behalf of companies linked to businessman Kirk Tovey will be the focus of the Kingsland Planning and Zoning Board at its Monday meeting, even as the city itself is debating its own moratorium on data centers.
Kingsland City Manager Lee Spell is recommending that the city council approve a data center moratorium at its May 11 meeting. That recommendation comes after the city adopted a data center ordinance in March in a process that was criticized for potentially violating state public meeting laws.
Why now?
At the county level, Commissioner Smith’s resolution was supposed to be on last month’s agenda, but commissioners were stuck with what he called a “rushed-through” version of a data center ordinance that needed work.
That prompted him to write the three-page resolution to remind voters and residents of the steep costs and potential threats of data centers. The proposed resolution underscores that the commissioners are entrusted “with protecting the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Camden County and ensuring responsible stewardship of the County’s natural resources, infrastructure, and long-term economic sustainability.”
Smith said that he felt compelled to get something in place because the county is not prepared for the introduction of data centers into the community.
“You know, there’s this huge push to put in data centers everywhere. We don’t have any zoning or planning in place for anything that would require that many resources. And I don’t think rushing through something is the answer either,” he added.
Kingsland annex
The land that the Kingsland planning board is debating for rezoning includes nearly 700 acres along Interstate 95. Just over 500 acres are within the Kingsland city limits, and the company linked to Tovey that owns the parcel is seeking approval to annex the remaining 146 acres into the city.
Smith said he has heard from constituents that they are not in favor of a large data center in their community. Smith said that, ultimately, he can’t say no to data centers, but he hopes the county can be proactive in providing the proper infrastructure should they be allowed.
“It obviously takes a lot more than just putting in a moratorium, because the moratorium is kind of like hitting the emergency button. I want to get it in front of people who know more about them, and I’m not talking about consultants, whose whole business is getting data centers in places,” he added. “We seem to do that a lot here in Camden County, and that may be a different conversation.”
