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Manchester resident urges lake-based cooling as alternative for Coffee County data centers
Summary
At a 5:30 p.m. public hearing, one resident urged the Coffee County Commission to consider lake-based cooling for proposed data centers and cited news reports of underwater server farms; the commission closed the hearing without a vote.
The Coffee County Commission opened a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. to consider adding data‑center language to the county zoning resolution. The chair invited public comment; one resident spoke.
Edward Stambaugh, of 613 Adams Street in Manchester, told the commission he had discussed server farms with "my commissioner, Jimmy Hollingsworth" and offered an alternative he and his wife researched to reduce neighborhood impacts. "It is being found out now in the news and other sources that China is now building server farms underwater on the sea coast of their of their country," Stambaugh said, citing those reports as context for his suggestion.
Stambaugh proposed using lake cooling instead of siting large server facilities in neighborhoods. He named the nearby "ADC based lake" as a possible location, saying the water could provide cooling without requiring development in residential areas. He characterized his appearance as partly to listen and partly to offer that alternative option to commissioners.
The chair asked if anyone else in the audience wished to speak specifically about data centers; none did. The chair then declared the public hearing closed and noted the commission's next item was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. There were no motions, votes, or formal actions recorded during the hearing.
The hearing record contains only the single public comment summarized here; the zoning amendment itself was presented to the commission in writing and no formal decision was made at this meeting.
