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Residents urge Coweta commissioners to resist rezoning rural conservation land for data center
Summary
At a Coweta County commission meeting, multiple residents urged commissioners to reject rezoning rural conservation land for a proposed Prologis data center, citing traffic, noise, buffer sizes and concerns that the county ordinance favors a specific project.
Coweta County commissioners heard several speakers on Tuesday night urging them not to rezone rural conservation land for a proposed data center by Prologis.
Public commenters said narrow rural roads, noise and the proximity to existing power infrastructure make the site unsuitable for large data-center development. Laura Beth, who identified herself as representing residents of rural Coweta, said the county’s proposed 300-foot buffer would not blunt noise from cooling towers and turbines and asked the commissioners to adopt a 1,500-foot buffer instead.
"At 7,920 feet I can hear Plant Yates," Laura Beth said. "Do you think a 300-foot buffer would muffle the sounds of a data center? We have asked for a larger buffer and hope that the county listens to the residents and increases it to the 1,500 feet requested."
Ron Bachrath (District 2) questioned consultant tax-revenue estimates and raised concerns about abatements: "If we don't do that, how can you make objective decisions?" he said, arguing that published projections from consultants appeared inconsistent with other estimates.
Daniel Franz, a Summer Grove resident, asked the board to investigate whether the county could assess a sales tax on a data center's power usage as an alternative revenue source, offering back-of-envelope figures for commissioners to consider. He urged staff and the county attorney to research the legal options.
Chair responded that staff would investigate the sales-tax question and consult the county attorney.
No zoning action on a specific data-center parcel was taken during the meeting; the remarks came during the public comment period. Commissioners previously set a public hearing on Nov. 4, 2025 for a separate amendment to the C-9 (commercial amusement) zoning chapter; staff clarified that the C-9 amendment under consideration would remove a current prohibition on central loudspeakers and would not itself rezone property for data-center use.
The public-comment speakers and staff emphasized that any rezoning or incentives would be addressed in later, separate proceedings.
The commission adjourned after completing the meeting’s agenda.
