Data center company officials and local opponents offered their opinions during a public hearing on the latest rezoning proposal at the Cartersville City Council meeting Thursday night. The council held the first reading of the rezoning and will vote after the second reading at the next meeting Sept. 3.
Databank Holdings Ltd. wants to rezone the land of the old Lever Bros. building in the industrial park from industrial to technology. It also seeks two variances for the property at 218 Industrial Park Rd. One is to reduce the parking and the other is to alter the building where the side becomes the front.
Justin Puccio, executive vice president of corporate for Databank, said the center isn’t for AI (artificial intelligence) but for clients who store data for online transactions and services like banks, education facilities, government, fiber and wireless companies.
He said the water system will be a closed loop system that will last between 20 to 40 years before it must be refurbished. The water would drain into the county water system then. Puccio said the data center would be under the city’s noise level limit. Once completed, it would employ 70 full-time employees.
Even if the rezoning gains council approval, council officials stated Thursday the company must show it will have a way to supply power before the project gets the green light. While the city has its own electric service, Mayor Matt Santini said it would not be used for the data center.
“They are going to go out and find the power to serve them,” he said.
The company plans on building a substation for power next to the data center but will still need a supplier to meet all its needs. One opponent said the data center would still affect the overall power supply market no matter where it gets its power and that could have ripple effects.
Puccio said Databank has seven data centers in and around Atlanta and a total of 70 in 25 markets across the United States. He said the company owns and manages the centers for its data clients rather than selling them to other companies like Google and Meta.
He said communities their data centers are in like them.
“There are anti-data center sentiment in certain pockets of the country, for sure,” he said. “We are close to the communities we serve.”
Opponents speaking out challenged that statement, saying there were many protests in Atlanta where Databank has other facilities. They also pointed out the jobs touted in construction were temporary and asked if they would go to Cartersville companies. Officials said construction would be bidded out so they could be from anywhere.
Rather than directly opposing the data center rezoning, opposition speakers asked questions they feel haven’t been answered. Most lived within five miles of the industrial park.
“Technology is always evolving,” said Megan Humphries, adding that data centers could one day be outdated and useless. “How is it going to be with these buildings? By that time, the damage would be done.”
Questions were raised about Georgia Power and its change of plans to retire Plant Bowen, instead adding a gas turbine. Michael Roberts said it feels like data center companies are purposely making discussions confusing to avoid accountability when promises aren’t kept.
“Every single visual is presented as not as bad as it could be. I do know these centers will change over time,” he said. “We can use our opposition as leverage and come together and not be backed into a corner.”
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S, Canada, the UK and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio. She is on Facebook, X, YouTube, content on Substack, and has a podcast on Rumble.