Albany Commission hits pause on data centers for study, drafting regulations

ALBANY – The Albany City Commission had a much larger audience than usual, and a number of those present were on hand hoping that commissioners would approve a moratorium on permitting data centers.

That group was not disappointed as the commission approved a 12-month pause on allowing data centers, with a possible six-month extension if the initial halt proved insufficient for drafting regulations to govern the facilities.

“I feel pretty great,” Aidan Tison, who has appeared before the commission in the past requesting a moratorium, told an Albany Herald reporter after the meeting. “We kind of took what the (Flint) Riverkeeper recommended (to the commission). We shot for 18 months and got 12.”

Commissioners also added a requirement to enlist an outside entity to assist in the process. That effort would be in addition to the Albany-Dougherty County Planning Commission’s role in drafting the regulations.

The draft resolution presented to the commission would have set a 12-month moratorium with the option to extend it for another 90 days. 

A number of area governmental entities have put a time out on permitting data centers, including Dougherty County, which earlier this month enacted a 45-day pause. It instructed the planning commission to draft rules that would govern the facilities. 

Representatives from the Sowega Aquifer Alliance, a recently formed group that pushes for strict regulations on data centers, appeared before the County Commission on two occasions prior to commissioners taking a vote.

The group is made up of residents in several area counties and has been active in recent weeks.

The city’s moratorium went into effect on Wednesday. The sticking point during the discussion was whether the pause would last six, 12 or 18 months. City Attorney Michael Custer advised commissioners that a moratorium lasting a year and a half could be problematic.

“It has to be reasonable,” she said of the moratorium. “It has to be reasonable in the fact that it has to be an amount of time (to) complete that action requested, in this case for a study to be done to possibly amend the ordinance governing data centers.”

Commissioner Diana Brown, one of several who preferred an 18-month moratorium, said that the action taken was sufficient. Mayor Bo Dorough argued for an 180-day halt.

“One hundred eighty days is not enough to know what is going on,” Brown said. “No one wants a data center near their residence. I wouldn’t want one, period. What are we going to get out of it?”

The commission voted unanimously to approve the moratorium for 12 months with the option of extending it another six months, which will serve the intended purpose, Commissioner Willie Weaver said.

“Whether it’s 12 months or 18 months, the point is due diligence,” he said.