Fulton County votes to pause plans on data center development

Hundreds of community members gathered at the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and Detention Center meeting room for Tuesday's Area Planning Commission meeting to let their voices be heard during a special session focused on data center development. 

Also there to attend the meeting were representatives from Decennial Group, a company which operates a data center in Hammond and has expressed interest in purchasing land near Akron for a proposed hyperscale data center. While the company maintained that data centers provide economic benefits with minimal complications, most attending the meeting were still not persuaded by the idea. 

Filling each chair in the room and even standing wall-to-wall, attendees for the meeting were each given two minutes to voice their opinion to officials, stretching the meeting for hours. While just a select few gave positive feedback on the idea, many residents strongly spoke out against the data center, even going as far as bringing NO Data Center gear that included signs, hats, and shirts to visually express their opposition. 

Among those strongly against data centers was Fulton County Assessor Kasey Lee, who expressed her worry for the heath and environmental impact a large scale data center could potentially do to the county. 

Worried about how quickly the project could become a reality, Lee, like many of the residents during Tuesday's meeting, urged officials to create a moratorium for peace of mind as the county reviews Decennial Group’s proposal and studies potential environmental and infrastructure impacts.

After a nearly three hours discussion, officials made it clear the community's concerns were being heard when they voted six-to-one to approve a 12-month moratorium on data centers and establish a committee to conduct further research before allowing data center development to begin in the county.