Moratorium on New Data Centers Enacted by Athens-Clarke County
Amid rising concerns about the environmental and community impact of data centers, the Athens-Clarke County Commission has imposed a halt on new developments until March. This decision reflects growing unease about the substantial water and electricity demands of these facilities, along with their potential effects on local residents’ quality of life.
Currently, East Athens hosts a single data center, situated on Voyles Road and managed by Southern Company since its construction in 2024. District 9 Commissioner Ovita Thornton, whose district encompasses this data center, expressed approval of the moratorium during a recent assembly, describing it as “a step in the right direction.”
Thornton remarked, “We never would have expected another data center trying to come here. I think when the first one popped up, it should have set some alarms, but here we are, we have a moratorium, and we’ll move forward.”
A significant point of the discussion was the lack of a clear definition for data centers within county ordinances, complicating efforts to regulate them. This issue may soon be addressed, as a meeting scheduled for December 11th will consider an amendment to establish a formal definition for data centers.
During the commission meeting, District 8 Commissioner Carol Myers inquired about the effect of the moratorium on a proposal to repurpose the site of Athena Studios, a film studio in northeast Athens, into a data center. The property owners are exploring a change in the facility’s use.
County Manager Bob Cowell indicated that such a proposal is unlikely to succeed under the existing zoning framework, which confines data centers to industrially zoned parcels. Cowell explained, “Data centers are newer than our ordinance, and so what that requires the staff to do is to interpret which zoning classification does it go in. For all of the reasons stated here (Electric consumption, water consumption, general impact), staff’s determination is that that requires an I-industrial zoning for that use.”
The current zoning of the Athena Studios parcel is E-I. The commission’s decision to support the moratorium was unanimous, with several commissioners voicing their agreement.
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