Monroe County data center loses zoning vote in face of community opposition

A proposed data center slated for forest land in Monroe County failed to win local zoning approval Monday, but that still leaves final approval of the proposal to the Monroe County Commission.

The 900-acre Bolingbroke Tech Center would take its name from the unincorporated town of Bolingbroke, about halfway between Macon and the Monroe County seat, Forsyth. It’s an area where people enjoy lots of acreage around large houses — the home across the road from the project is valued at $700,000. More than one riding stable is nearby, too.

During the Monroe County Planning and Zoning Board meeting, project stakeholder Charles Ingram touted the 1.1 gigawatt facility’s potential benefits to the community.

Caption

Members of the Monroe County Planning and Zoning Board were shown a photo of Douglas County data center site before they voted against rezoning 900 acres to allow a data center in Monroe County.

Credit: Grant Blankenship/GPB News

“Data centers are the backbone of today's economy,” Ingram said. “And it's critical infrastructure: from emergency communications to online banking to supercomputers to data files to phones to mobile autonomous vehicles.”

Ingram promised riches for Monroe County had the land he owns in the project footprint been rezoned from residential to commercial.

“The positive impact of this project is $5.8 billion and $60 million annually to the county,” Ingram said, adding that the money could pay for a new fire station in Bolingbroke, better roads and schools or maybe even a new hospital.  

That’s if the project were to materialize as Ingram and other boosters promise. The Bolingbroke Tech Center, which so far has no named potential tenants, would not be fully up and running until 2034.

During public comment, Margo Kenirey, a Bolingbroke resident, warned that just preparing the site for business that may never come would be damage enough.

“The land is clear cut, bulldozed,” Kenirey said, pointing to an aerial photo of an under-construction data center in another part of the state. It showed a hilltop denuded of trees. All red clay.

“Removed the trees and habitat. Removed wildlife and permanently destroyed land,” Kenirey concluded.

An impact review of the project presented by county staff pointed out the likely presence of federally endangered plants like the Ocmulgee skullcap and animals like tri-colored bats at the site.

Caption

Supporting documents prepared by proponents of the Bolingbroke Technology Center, left, and Charles Ingram, one of two landowners whose properties would make up the Bolingbroke Technology Center, right.

Credit: Grant Blankenship/GPB News

Data center proponents told the room full of hundreds of people, most of whom wore identical red “Say No To Rezoning” t-shirts, that data centers are becoming more efficient every day and that the eventual footprint for the Bolingbroke project could likely be smaller than proposed today.

Jordan Burnsed, a Bolingbroke resident and data center industry consultant warned his neighbors that’s not how he has seen advances in efficiency pan out so far.

“It means we pack more and more inside every server,” Burnsed said.

And, he said, the power needs of the Bolingbroke centers could be massive.

“If all of those data centers are up and running, that's like moving the population of San Jose, [Calif.] into Monroe County to consume power,” he said.

That comparison holds up, according to power usage data kept by the state of California, and if you assume the data centers are running at full capacity, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  

That’s because the project is estimated to require more than a gigawatt of power at full buildout, or about the equivalent of one off the four reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle.

Caption

Opposition to the data center in overwhelmingly Republican Monroe County in the lead up to the zoning meeting had been vocal and staunch.

Credit: Grant Blankenship/GPB News

Jeff Ruggieri was another Bolingbroke resident who spoke to the board. While Burnsed spoke from his data center expertise, Ruggieri, executive director of the neighboring Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission, spoke from his knowledge of urban planning.

Ruggieri argued that perceptions of community compatibility — what the people think — should be at least as important in the decision process as economic impact and rights of property owners to do what they want with their land.

“It doesn't take any magic; you don't need to go to school forever like I did to know that this doesn't fit,” Ruggieri said, motioning towards his neighbors, many wearing T-shirts in protest. “Look at the ocean of red.”

Ultimately, it was the feared imprecision of how noise levels from the data centers could be predicted that led to the motion to deny the rezoning request. The resulting vote was unanimous, 5-0.

The zoning board’s vote is only a recommendation to the Monroe County Commission, which could still approve the project when it takes up the issue on Tuesday, Aug. 5.

If approved, Bolingbroke Tech Center would be the second data center in Monroe County.