A Florida businessman suspended his efforts Monday to transform a nearly 700-acre tract of land in Camden County into a data center, amid mushrooming local controversy over the proposed facility’s economic and environmental impact and an unusual plea from the commander of the Naval Submarine Base at nearby Kings Bay.
A public notice posted by officials in the city of Kingsland said the application to have the tract rezoned as an industrial park to allow construction of a data center and to have a section of the parcel annexed by the city had been withdrawn.
The notice gave no reason for the withdrawal and did not identify the businessman, Kirk Tovey, or his representatives by name. There was no immediate word from Tovey or his representatives about their plans for the 682-acre land parcel and whether he would resume his efforts to build a data center on it in the future.
Tovey’s move came just hours before the city’s planning and zoning board was set to take up the rezoning proposal and just days after the commander at King’s Bay, Capt. William Dull urged Kingsland’s mayor to postpone action regarding Tovey’s data-center proposal.
In his letter Friday to Kingsland Mayor C. Grayson Day, Jr., Dull set out a litany of concerns about data centers that have been echoed elsewhere in Georgia and nationwide.
He said the massive amounts of water required for a data center’s operation in Kingsland “could impact the area’s aquifers and local water security.”
He also expressed concerns that the area’s electric infrastructure would be “unable to handle the additional load without passing costs or grid instability to Camden County residents and the naval base.”
Furthermore, Dull wrote, the scale of the proposed data center project “threatens local ecosystems and alters the community landscape” in an area “where dredging is already a strain on mission critical operations.” The naval base occupies 16,000 acres of land, 4,000 of which are protected wetlands.
A delay in approving rezoning would be prudent, Dull said:
“Considering the importance of the strategic mission carried out at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, we officially ask for these items to be tabled until a later date. This will allow our team to further investigate installation impacts as well as provide ample time for coordination with your staff.”
In his response on Facebook, Day appeared to sidestep Dull’s request, instead assuring him that local officials would proceed responsibly.
“While I greatly value the input of the Kings Bay Naval Base Command,” he wrote on Facebook, the City of Kingsland puts all requests of this level and nature under close scrutiny. Both the Planning and Zoning board and City Council are composed of Kingsland citizens who are working to improve and protect our beautiful city.”
Dull continued: “We have had overwhelming response from our constituents on this potential annexation and rezoning request. We pride ourselves as being a Council and Mayor representative of our people and we will respond accordingly by taking their sentiment into strong consideration.”
Besides Monday evening’s meeting of the planning and zoning board, where Tovey’s rezoning and annexation application was to be taken up, the Camden County Commission is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a proposed nine-month moratorium on data centers. Kingsland’s city council was also expected to consider a similar measure next week.
Whether either of those efforts will go forward was unclear Monday afternoon.
