Citizens urge Marietta City Council to scuttle data center

Dozens of citizens crowded Marietta City Hall Wednesday to demand that a year-old vote allowing a data center on Bells Ferry Road to be overturned.

A few days after announcing they would speak at a regular council meeting, the protesters repeated recent claims they’ve made about environmental and noise concerns related to data centers, as well as potential rises in electricity bills.

Their remarks came at the end of the meeting during a general public comment period but didn’t generate a response from Marietta elected officials.

There wasn’t an item on the meeting agenda about the data center, and in the days since the protest was announced, city officials have issued statements reiterating that there’s no data center project that’s in the works, nor is there any agreement with Marietta Power for electrical use.

But that didn’t deter citizens, many of them wearing similar matching colored shirts and holding up “No Data Center” signs.

Many are younger political activists, associated with the Democratic Socialists of America. A man wearing an ATL DSA shirt, Perry Barrett (at right), who lives near the land where the data center was zoned, held up sheets of paper indicating signatures on a petition.

He said he works and is struggling to pay for increased household costs “and I can’t afford to move.” He urged the city council to impose a moratorium on data centers until conducting an environmental impact study.

Cobb commissioners issued a six-month data center moratorium in February. Data centers have been the subject of increased opposition across the country in recent months as high tech giants build gigantic data centers for artificial intelligence projects.

State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, a Democrat from Smyrna whose district includes a sliver of Marietta city limits, said there is a “big push by billionaire elites” to build AI data centers, which he called “something we don’t need. Focus on what the community needs.”

Sanchez, a Walton High School graduate who also is active with DSA, told city council members that “you should listen to your constituents and put something else on this land.”

Also speaking out against the data center is Sam Foster, a recent Kennesaw State University graduate who nearly toppled longtime Marietta Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tumlin in last year’s elections.

The data center issue has begun to take on some partisan dynamics as well. The Cobb County Democratic Committee is supporting the protests.

Michelle Schreiner (seen below), a Democrat who is challenging longtime Republican State Rep. Sharon Cooper of East Cobb in November, issued a statement on her campaign website, saying that “the Bells Ferry Road data center isn’t just a local issue. It’s part of a much larger conversation about AI, infrastructure, and Georgia’s future. These aren’t anti-technology questions. They’re governance questions.”

She also supports a temporary moratorium “on large-scale data center approvals.”

But what Marietta passed in June 2025 on its zoning calendar, after going through the usual public notice procedures, was a data center on a smaller scale.

The city noted in its message earlier this week that the original proposal would have allowed up to 100 megawatts of power, but that fell through.

“The most recent discussions have included much smaller power purchase amounts of 60MW or less; however, even those conversations have stalled,” the city message said.

“Due to the careful structure of any potential agreement, a data center at this property would not place strain on the electrical grid or negatively impact current customers.”

Tracy Stevenson of Marietta, who led the public commenters, said the facts don’t add up in the favor of the protesters.

He said he’s been vilified in taking issue with the data center opponents and has “even been misgendered, but none of that hurts my feelings.”

Stevenson said he’s not either for or against a data center in Marietta, but what was approved a year ago “isn’t about AI.

“There is no deal. We do not know what we do not know.”

A resident in the nearby Bells Ferry Road community, Diana Martin, said she was among those who didn’t know about a data center approval until it was recently brought to her attention.

She said she’s not involved in any political groups, but is worried about noise and pollution issues, and followed other speakers in mentioning possible political repercussions in the next election (Marietta’s next election is in 2027).

“You can make a decision to reverse this based on what the community wants,” Martin said.

Related: