Jones County panel recommends zoning text to allow data centers, adds environmental study requirement

Jones County Planning and Zoning Commission members voted at their meeting to recommend that the Board of Commissioners begin a text amendment to the county's Comprehensive Land Development Resolution to allow data centers as a conditional use in the C‑1 district and to require an environmental assessment as part of any application.

The measure would create standards for sites 400 acres or larger and incorporate staff's recommended language, including buffers, noise limits and planting requirements; the commission asked staff to add a specific environmental assessment requirement before the proposal goes to the commissioners for final action.

Commissioners said the county currently has no guidance for data centers and that adopting baseline standards would give the county criteria to review future proposals. "If we don't have anything at all, they have no reason to think it can't happen," a commissioner said during discussion. Tim, a staff member who presented the report, told the commission he would add language that "an environmental assessment study shall be presented with an application." The commission amended and approved the staff text with that addition and forwarded the recommendation to the Board of Commissioners.

Discussion centered on four recurring concerns: electricity supply and grid impacts, water use, noise and visual screening, and construction traffic. Commissioners and staff cited an example trip by a county commissioner and public works director to Lowndes County, Virginia, where they observed multiple large facilities and took sound readings. Staff reported one visit where noise measured about 60 decibels at a public vantage point and noted that the draft ordinance proposes a 55 dB limit measured at the property line. "The ordinance requires that the buffer be maintained," a staff member said when commissioners asked whether planted buffers could lapse over time.

The draft standards discussed by the commission include a 100‑foot buffer requirement, a minimum site threshold of 400 acres to request a data center, and a proposed maximum building height range discussed between 60 and 75 feet; staff noted the taller height could raise fire‑department access concerns and recommended checking with emergency services. Staff also described a typical water approach for such facilities as a closed‑loop system that minimizes ongoing water consumption. For roads and construction access, staff noted the county could require posting bonds for equipment access and that a traffic management plan should be presented with applications so the county can assess construction impacts in advance.

Commissioners repeatedly raised the county's limited generation and distribution capacity and cited reporting that Georgia Power has announced substation build delays of up to 36 months in some cases, creating concern about whether the utility could reliably serve large new loads. One commissioner asked whether data centers could install on‑site generation or batteries; staff said facilities could choose on‑site generation or battery systems if necessary, which is one reason some jurisdictions restrict on‑site generation in their ordinances.

The commission did not make a final local land‑use decision; it recommended that the Board of Commissioners begin the amendment process with the staff's text and the added environmental assessment requirement. Tim said he would draft boilerplate verbiage for the environmental assessment and return it as part of the record. The commissioners emphasized that specifics of any application would be reviewed case by case when a developer identifies a precise site.

The Board of Commissioners will receive the commission's recommendation for consideration and final action.