The city council in Garden City voted on Monday to impose a six-month moratorium on data centers in the Chatham County municipality.
“This will allow city staff, planning commission, and city council sufficient time to review the impacts and consider the amendments to the zoning ordinance,” City Manager Rhonda Ferrell explained prior to the council vote.
The mayor and four council members in attendance unanimously approved a temporary moratorium “upon the acceptance, processing, review, or issuance of any new applications for zoning permits, building permits, business licenses, conditional use permits, or variances related to the establishment, construction, or expansion of Data Centers within any zoning district of Garden City.”
The resolution notes that Garden City’s zoning ordinance does not explicitly define data centers nor does it “adequately address the unique impacts associated with such facilities,
including but not limited to heavy demands on electrical grids, substantial water consumption for cooling systems, noise generated by industrial HVAC units and backup generators, and limited job creation relative to their physical footprint.”
In a work session prior to the council meeting, Ferrell noted that six months should be sufficient time because the city had already started to research data centers.
With a population of almost 11,000, Garden City is the fourth largest municipality in Chatham County after Savannah, Pooler and Port Wentworth.
It’s not the first Coastal Georgia government to address data centers. In December, Port Wentworth passed zoning to allow data centers in certain zones over the objection of citizens who called for a moratorium. In March, nearby Rincon in Effingham County passed a zoning ordinance that defined data centers and allowed them only in “contiguously zoned industrial districts or areas consisting of not less than 200 acres.” In April, Camden became the first coastal county to adopt a data center moratorium
Monday’s meeting was sparsely attended by the public. Jeff Beauvais of the advocacy group One Hundred Miles provided the sole public comment, praising the council for addressing data centers and warning that he expects more data centers to come to the coast.
“Data centers are complex and emerging industrial land use that have significant impacts on our natural resources and quality of life for neighboring residents,” he said. “They are not inherently more benign than other industrial land uses, and they are not an abstract possibility in this region anymore. The end of April, City of Kingsland received the first fully fledged application for a data center in the Georgia coast, and that led to a moratorium from the city down there. Developers are eyeing our region for this industry, and it’s critical that local governments act now.”
The Tide brings regular notes and observations on news and events by The Current staff.
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