Paulding County approves data center moratorium

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. - The Paulding County Board of Commissioners has placed a temporary moratorium on data centers to give officials time to update the county's development codes.

What we know:

During Tuesday's board of commissioners meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the moratorium, which will be in effect until January 1, 2027. 

"I think it's very important for us to think about everything… I feel like we've been learning a lot as we go on this, and I think this will be a positive move for both us and anybody that might want to come here in the future with the data center for us to get our code together… and make sure that we have everything in there that we all agree on and that we've uh listened to the community input on this," said Post 3 Commissioner Virginia Galloway.

Commissioner Galloway also encouraged residents to send research and studies to a specialized email on the matter that will be set up. 

Once the moratorium was approved, the meeting room erupted with applause from the public sitting in the room, which is a stark difference from previous meetings where angry taxpayers took the stand to protest data centers earlier this month. 

The backstory:

The vote follows weeks of intense community pushback, during which homeowners packed public forums to fight zoning rules that allow large-scale data centers in their neighborhoods.

The tension stems from four technology park overlay districts previously established by the county. One of these districts sits near Bethel Church Road and Highway 92 (Hiram-Douglasville Highway). The county created these special districts through text amendments to the existing code rather than the standard property rezoning process, allowing developers to bypass traditional public hearing notices.

RELATED STORY: Paulding public meetings overflow as residents fight data centers

This process left residents feeling blindsided. Homeowners raised alarms that the massive facilities would trigger spikes in local power bills, create non-stop industrial noise, and damage the local environment. 

While critics accused county officials of using quiet code changes to dodge public scrutiny, Post 2 Commissioner Sandy Kaecher defended the board's process during the meeting. Kaecher told the crowd that commissioners spent significant time researching the impacts of data centers. 

What we don't know:

The moratorium does not apply to any pending data center zoning applications that were filed before the moratorium was approved. It's unclear exactly what applications might have been filed before the approval.

What they're saying:

Several residents expressed gratitude during public comment after the moratorium was approved. 

"I thank you very much for humbling yourselves and making the statement that you did and listening to us today, listening to us for the last three months," said local resident Michelle Wolven.

Following Wolven, local resident Rose James took the podium to echo that appreciation, "… I really appreciate what you've done today. I think that I felt that you've have awakened and seen that and this is just the beginning."

Homeowner Savannah Padgett drew on her own professional background in the technology sector to argue that a six-month freeze is simply not enough time to safeguard the community.

"Like six months is not enough time to catch up with the type of development that needs to happen via technology for data centers to be safe for communities," she said. "At least from my perspective… like you see quality, water quality issues, you see issues with… electricity, power grids, um wildlife as was mentioned earlier."

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