Glynn County staff propose new data center zoning rules: 50-acre minimum, 75-foot height cap and industrial-only allowance

Glynn County planning staff presented draft zoning language for data centers at the March 18 work session and asked the Board of Commissioners if staff should begin the public-notice process and bring the ordinance amendments to the planning commissions.

Proposed rules: Stephanie Lee, Planning and Zoning Director, described a draft ordinance that would add a definition for ‘‘data center’’ and standards including a 75-foot maximum building height (excludes water towers, smokestacks and similar structures), front/side/rear setbacks of 50 feet, a minimum parcel size of 50 acres and a minimum lot width provision. The draft would permit data centers in limited industrial, general industrial and basic industrial zoning districts; applicants could also seek planned-development approval where appropriate.

Noise, buffers and site design: Staff said the primary mitigation for noise and visual impacts is distance and vegetative buffering — the draft relies on minimum acreage, 50-foot setbacks and the county’s landscape-buffer requirements (mixes of trees and shrubs). Staff noted the Planning Commission has flexibility to modify buffers in constrained areas such as under transmission lines.

Utility, fiscal and state-rule context: Assistant County Manager John Gentry and a Georgia Power area manager (D’Lough Cartwright) joined the discussion. Cartwright summarized recent Georgia Public Service Commission rules (adopted Jan. 23, 2025) that create new power-usage terms for large-load customers and allow Georgia Power to require upfront cost recovery from large customers. Cartwright said data centers can be large (commonly 100 MW or above) and typically require considerable upfront transmission and substation investment, but that new PSC rules and company practice allow recovery mechanisms so existing residential customers are not left with undue cost shifts. Staff also presented an example public project in Henry County (a 250-acre project with multi-building campus) and noted the City of Brunswick received about $1,270,000 in the most recent year in municipal power-related receipts.

Procedure and timeline: Staff said the ordinance must be initiated and noticed and then reviewed by the planning commissions before it returns to the Board of Commissioners. Commissioners asked staff to move forward with noticing for the planning commissions; staff indicated the amendment would be scheduled for planning commission consideration and return to the board in April or May.

Outstanding questions: Commissioners asked whether different data-center cooling systems have different noise profiles; staff and Georgia Power said modern cooling approaches have reduced noise differences and that many centers now use water-cooled systems and other mitigations. Commissioners also asked whether the county should set a larger minimum acreage; staff said developers often seek 50–100+ acre sites and the proposed 50-acre minimum follows common practice in other Georgia ordinances.

Ending note: Staff will proceed with public notice and planning commission hearings if the board directs them to do so. No ordinance was adopted at the work session.