Toccoa City Commission approves Data Center Ordinance Moratorium

The Toccoa City Commission unanimously approved a data center ordinance moratorium at their meeting on Monday, July 27. City Attorney Greg Sowell gives details.

“Data centers are springing up in many places, and because of their size, because of their lighting, the traffic, the noise, the water consumption, and various things involved, local governments are very concerned that these be constructed in the right places and wisely to complement the community and not to be in opposition to the community and its property uses. And so, what has happened in many communities across our state and really across the country, in fact, some states in their entirety are adopting moratoriums for the purpose of studying the data centers, so that the requirements for their installation are in complementary application to your community, as opposed to in conflict with your community. So, we have discussed adopting an ordinance that would pose a moratorium on any data centers in the city through and to include January 11, 2027, and in that timeframe, the attorney’s office would recommend that a study group be appointed to look at data centers and to present recommendations to the City Commission as to appropriate requirements to be set forth in your zoning ordinance for data centers for the city.”

During their work session before their regular meeting, the Toccoa City Commission discussed a data center ordinance in depth, so the moratorium until January 11, 2027, will give them more time to do research and gather information.  

On May 26, the Stephens County Board of Commissioners extended a moratorium on the permitting of data centers from July through October to give the county time to get an ordinance in place. 

Neither the city nor the county has received any applications for data centers.