As data center development in Georgia surges, one type of regional review for the power-hungry projects is being shelved — at least temporarily.
A Georgia agency has ordered regional planning commissions to pause reviews of new data center proposals because of an unprecedented wave of projects being pitched across the Peach State.
The Department of Community Affairs confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution it has paused all new data center proposals from entering into the Development of Regional Impact process — an infrastructure review typically required for large projects. The DCA recently implemented the pause to reassess how data centers should be analyzed during the DRI process going forward.
The DCA directive is not a moratorium and does not stop new projects from moving forward at the local level, an agency spokesperson said.
While this reassessment takes place, local officials can move new data centers projects forward without the additional layer of analysis and scrutiny that comes from a DRI review.
The state DRI database is a one-stop repository of information for the public to review major development projects that affect multiple jurisdictions. The pause on regional reviews will make it harder for members of the public to track new proposals spread across dozens of jurisdictions.
“DCA cannot speak to how local governments will handle local development proposals outside of the DRI process as the agency does not have a role in those local processes,” the DCA spokesperson said in a written statement.
Typically triggered by a rezoning request or permit application, a DRI review tends to be the first time many large developments enter the public eye. The process evaluates a project’s water consumption, power needs and traffic demands while disclosing other information on a development’s scale.
This is the first time the DCA has ever paused a development type from entering the DRI process, the spokesperson said. It comes as metro Atlanta has emerged as the country’s hottest data center market over the past few years.
“Since the inception of the DRI program, development types have remained relatively static,” the spokesperson said. “While DCA previously added development types, there has not otherwise been such a completely new form of development, like data centers, that has required a pause to reassess the regulations.”
Credit: Courtesy Endeavour / Edged Energy
Credit: Courtesy Endeavour / Edged Energy
The pause “will conclude as soon as practical,” the spokesperson said, but a specific timeline was not disclosed. The lapse in DRI reviews for data centers, especially at a time when the sector is growing at an unprecedented rate, has raised alarm bells for environmentalists.
“The planners will be flying blind at the local commission levels,” said Chris Manganiello, the water policy director for the nonprofit Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. “And it’ll make it really hard for the local water utilities and local governments to really understand what is coming down the pike.”
Prudent planning
Georgia established the DRI program in 1989 to provide statewide review of large projects of regional significance.
The state and its hundreds of cities and 159 counties are split among a dozen regional commissions, which report to the DCA. Those commissions review DRI applications within their jurisdiction and provide their findings to local governments, serving an advisory role.
The Atlanta Regional Commission, which oversees the city and 11 surrounding counties, declined to comment. ARC Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach recently told the AJC that data centers have become an area of focus for the agency.
“We don’t want to caught flat-footed in metro Atlanta,” she said in a May interview.
The last time the DCA revised its DRI standards was in 2014. Data centers in their current form were more science fiction than reality at the time.
Effectively gigantic warehouses filled with computer servers, data centers store digital information and form the backbone of the internet. As digital storage needs expanded, so did the size of data centers. The artificial intelligence boom of the 2020s has sent the sector into overdrive.
A recent investigation by the AJC evaluated DRIs to portray the ongoing data center boom.
Metro Atlanta, now the second-largest data center market in the world, had tripled its amount of active data center space as of March compared to a year prior, according to real estate services firm CBRE.
Some counties, such as Coweta, DeKalb and Douglas, have implemented short-term moratoriums to block new data center proposals while local leaders evaluate their zoning codes. Atlanta has also banned data centers in many parts of the city.
Data centers tend to be heavy power and water users. If the state stops collecting water and power data through DRIs, Manganiello said he fears it’ll “potentially be putting Georgia at risk.”
The DCA spokesperson said if the DRI reassessment results in any proposed rule amendments, that will result in public notice and opportunities for public feedback.
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