Athens residents urge city to prohibit data centers and battery storage during public comment

Several Athens residents used the City Council public-comment period on April 27 to urge the council to prohibit data centers and battery energy storage systems (BESS), saying the facilities pose contamination and electrical-safety risks and that the community needs independent verification and transparent test results.

Calvin Taylor (810 Clifford St.) asked the council to require expert verification and transparency of any testing or monitoring related to data centers. Other residents—Bubba Hayes, DeAnn Lund, LeAnn Embry, Wynn Sloboda and Anne Perryman—expressed similar opposition, raising concerns about contamination, local electricity reliability and potential health and environmental impacts. Janelle Cole and Joan Lotin also spoke, asking for clearer answers from city officials when technical issues are raised.

The comments varied in emphasis: some speakers called for an outright prohibition of data centers and BESS inside the city limits; others asked for stronger permitting standards, independent testing and more transparent reporting from developers and the city. Bonnie Hambrick, the city secretary, read written comments from Deborah Deas expressing opposition to a separate agenda item related to downtown parking (read into the record prior to a council vote).

City staff did not take formal action on data centers during the meeting. City Manager Elizabeth Borstad later told the council she and the mayor have discussed downtown planning items and intend to hold public meetings on specific topics that require further study; residents asking for a formal ban did not receive a council directive at this session.

The public-comment period was the primary avenue at this meeting for residents to raise concerns about high-tech development and battery storage; councilmembers did not vote on any regulation of data centers or BESS at the session and did not announce a timetable for further action.