With a six-month moratorium on considering data centers set to expire in August, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will be getting an update on the subject next week.
An agenda item for a work session Tuesday says it will be to “present information” from the Cobb Community Development Agency.
The agenda item doesn’t state a recommended course of action, and East Cobb News contacted Cobb County government Friday to see if a moratorium extension may be proposed.
Spokeswoman Shelly Wiedner said in response that according Jessica Guinn, the community development agency director, her office and the Cobb Economic Development Agency “are planning to bring the extension forth as an agenda item at the August 11 BOC meeting. I’m sure she will discuss it further at the work session on Tuesday.”
The agenda item (you can read it here) notes the current issues involving data centers, especially over energy and water consumption and the potential impacts on local infrastructures.
The item states that the Cobb zoning code adopted in 1972 “gives no consideration for this more modern land use.
Today, data centers are most similar to a private utility or a warehouse use, both of which are permitted by right
in Cobb County” in two industrial zones.
There’s a new use for that created in the proposed Cobb Unified Development Code, which “also proposes regulations specific to data centers that would mitigate the impact of data centers on surrounding properties, as well as on infrastructure, power and water resources.”
The Cobb moratorium is set to expire just as the City of Marietta imposed a six-month moratorium while delaying a data center request on Delk Road at Interstate 75.
There have been no data center proposals in unincorporated Cobb. But in her agenda item, Guinn said that “these facilities, particularly large-scale campus type developments, can impact local infrastructure and utilities significantly. Specifically, the power and water supply demands present a strain to local resources.
“Furthermore, these facilities can present negative impacts to nearby properties, including noise pollution and air quality impacts resulting from cooling systems and backup generators, as well as undesirable aesthetic impacts if the facilities are not visually screened properly.”
Other local governments in metro Atlanta have been issuing shorter moratoria, including a new 30-day pause in Cherokee County.
The work session Tuesday also will include an update on the American Rescue Plan Act and “information and updates regarding housing in Cobb County.” An agenda item for the latter states only that “Community Development will present information on programs and initiatives that the Board of Commissioners could consider regarding
housing.”
The work session begins at 1:30 p.m. in the second floor board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta.
You can view the full agenda by clicking here.
You also can watch the meeting on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
Related:
- Bill to rename VA clinic after late Cobb Chairman passes U.S. House
- Marietta tables data center request; issues moratorium
- Cobb commissioners to hold property tax public hearings
- Cobb proposes $1.4B fiscal year 2027 budget that holds millage rates
- 2028 Cobb SPLOST referendum to be put on November ballot
- Cobb school district sues county over tax-collection fees
- Citizens urge Marietta City Council to scuttle data center
- Citizens to protest data center plans on Bells Ferry Road
- Cobb sends out 2026 tax assessments with notice changes
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