NEWTON COUNTY – Data centers have seemingly been on the rise in recent years across Georgia. But if Tuesday’s board of commissioners meeting gave any glimpse into the future, Newton County officials are looking to slow that trend down.
On Tuesday, the commissioners objected to three separate annexation requests for planned data center sites in matching 4-0-1 votes. Two of the annexation requests came from the City of Covington, while one came from the City of Social Circle.
First discussed during the meeting was the consideration of annexing 1,522.68 acres at 600 Elks Club Road from Newton County into the City of Covington for a developer who hopes to build a data center. The land is owned by Alcovy Rise LLC.
Beverly Copeland, who has lived on Elks Club Road for 37 years, said during the citizen comments portion of the meeting that there has been great concern regarding this project in her neighborhood.
“I think it would open a Pandora’s Box for the county,” Copeland said. “...The people who sell this property aren’t going to be living in Newton County. They will not see the damages [and] the changes created by these transactions.”
The second discussed annexation was for two parcels located at 10383 Highway 278 & 10385 Highway 278, which are owned by Falconwood Farms. They, too, hope to be annexed into the City of Covington.
Per a Development of Regional Impact filing with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the owners are seeking to build 1,000,000 square feet of warehouses. The county’s agenda, however, lists the annexation request as a possible data center site, not a warehouse.
This was explained by acting County Attorney Stephanie Johnson, who filled in for County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter.
“To be clear, currently the proposed use is not for a data center,” Johnson said. “But based on staff review and county attorney review, we still believe that the proposed use represents a significantly different allowable use [and] that it would significantly increase the net cost of infrastructure and that it also differs substantially from the future uses suggested for this property.”
Like the annexation request before it, this also sparked citizen concern.
“We feel like it will negatively affect our neighborhood,” said Mary Ann Smith.
Last was a request to annex portions of land located at Shrouds Creek Road and 1088 Lakewood Drive into the City of Social Circle.
Johnson said that part of the proposed site is already in the city limits. A listed proposed use for the site is a technology park with a data center.
District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards and District 5 Commissioner LeAnne Long spearheaded the effort against the development, offering the motions and seconds to each objection. Two other commissioners, District 2’s Demond Mason and District 3’s Andre Cooper, voted in agreement.
District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson abstained from all three votes, claiming that he did not receive a notice of the board’s executive session where the commissioners discussed the votes in confidence. Notices for the called executive session were sent via email and posted at the Historic Courthouse.
Henderson also cited the potential of high legal fees that could come as a result of potential litigation and said that the county needed to work together with the cities on these matters.
Long, who was particularly outspoken, and given that all three requests are in her district, said that she is vehemently opposed to any sort of industrial development that may be proposed in the residential area of District 5.
“I have been working on annexations since day one,” Long said. “I don’t care how much money we spend legally to protect the citizens of Newton County in my district. Because this is something I’m going to continue to fight for, what’s ours. We need to stop these people at the county line with these things.
“...I will continue to beat the pavement for District 5 and save the land that we have and not let the City of Covington or City of Social Circle put something in our residential areas that’s industrial that does not belong there.”
With the county voting to object to the annexation requests, the matter will go before an arbitration panel.
The panel, which is made up of two elected county officials, two elected city officials and one academic official, is appointed by the DCA. They decide if the annexation is suitable to move forward. If it is deemed suitable, then the corresponding city can make a determination on if the annexation will be approved or not.
It is not clear what either city’s view is on the annexation requests. Both cities are legally required to send annexation requests made by the land owners to the county.
