DeKalb Commission votes against amendment that would regulate data centers

What the action will mean for the county’s effort to regulate data centers is unclear.

County staff have been working over the past year to propose regulations and had submitted a fourth draft of the legislation, after numerous discussions and community feedback. Earlier this month, the county extended a moratorium on the development or expansion of data centers until Sept. 30.

Tuesday’s vote came after at least a dozen residents spoke against the latest draft of the code amendment.

Changes in the most recent draft included increasing the minimum distance between homes and a data center to 750 feet, from 500 feet; capping the size of data center campuses on developed land at 1 million square feet; and requiring a special land use permit for data centers over 20,000 square feet.

On Tuesday morning, residents lined up to rail against data centers, calling them “surveillance centers” and “massive natural resource guzzlers.” Several said the code amendment would not protect them, or that they haven’t had time to review the latest draft, which the county made public less than a week ago.

No one spoke in favor of data centers or the amendment.

Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC

Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC

“You want our comments on something that we haven’t seen,” data center opponent Gina Mangham said of the newest draft. “You may be willing to comment on something you haven’t read, but we’re not. And so, since you realize that we don’t want data centers in DeKalb, since you asked for evidence, since we have made our positions clear, not one person has come up here in favor of this text amendment.

“We do not want data centers in DeKalb County, period.”

For months, residents have voiced concern about potential emissions of data centers and their impact on water resources. The facilities are effectively huge warehouses that store computer servers to power artificial intelligence and other digital products.

“A data center is a mechanical monster,” said Jonathan Holle, a DeKalb resident and organizer for the county’s branch of the Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America. “It consumes your power and it makes you pay for it.”

He added: “And what is AI for? The AI is there to surveil you and your family. It is there to feed itself your private data so it can develop itself into something that takes your job away.”

Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC

Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC

Early in Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioners Nicole Massiah, LaDena Bolton and Chakira Johnson said they supported amending the code because data centers need to be defined and regulated.

“They do not exist in our code,” Bolton said. “In order to say no to a data center, we have to define them. They have to exist first.”

DeKalb Watershed Management Director Reginald D. Wells, answering questions posed by Commissioner Patrick, said the county never would allow a new development to deplete its resources. The developer would have to pay for any needed upgrades to water or sewer systems, he said.

Commissioner Ted Terry warned about a possible “heat island effect” from data centers, citing a recent study by researchers at Arizona State University who found evidence that the facilities produce “measurable warming” in adjacent neighborhoods.

This would add to the dangers of an already warming planet, Terry said.

“Now we’re getting into the territory where heat waves are not just uncomfortable, they’re actually deadly,” he said. “That, in and of itself, really dictates that we should further study the heat-island impact of large-scale data centers.”