The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted to extend a moratorium on considering new data center applications for another six months.
The existing moratorium was set to expire later this month, and at a work session last week, commissioners were briefed on forthcoming ordinances to address the issue.
An item on Tuesday’s meeting agenda states that the Cobb County Code enacted 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 the light industrial (LI) and heavy industrial (HI) zoning districts.”
No data centers have been formally proposed in unincorporated Cobb, but local governments around the nation are issuing moratoria as they grapple with a fast-moving issue that has galvanized community and political opposition.
The City of Marietta imposed a six-month moratorium last month after being besieged by residents opposed to a proposed data center off Delk Road near Interstate 75 as well as consideration of a similar facility on land zoned for a data center off Bells Ferry Road.
The Marietta moratorium does not apply to the former, a proposal by Prime Storage to convert a portion of a storage facility on Powers Ferry Place for what the applicant said is for “mission critical” local purposes.
The Marietta City Council held that case, which is scheduled to be reconsidered on Wednesday. There has been no proposal for a data center on the Bells Ferry Road site.
Cobb Community Development Agency officials have not given a timetable for bringing proposed code amendments for data centers, but the moratorium extension expires on Feb. 24, 2027.
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