Commissioners approve 90-day moratorium
The question of a data center in Jones County has been a hot topic since before the first application was received.
Theories about the data center being a “done deal” have been floating on social media for more than a month, with the most recent decision pertaining to data centers a moratorium placed on any data center applications by the Board of Commissioners near the conclusion of its Oct. 21 meeting.
The first mention of data centers for Jones County was during a July 15 commissioners meeting. Development Authority Executive Director Haley Watson requested the commissioners consider amending the county’s Comprehensive Land Development Resolution to allow data centers as a conditional use in C-1 zoning districts in Jones County.
Advertisement of the resulting proposed amendment was published in the Aug. 7 edition of The Jones County News for the Aug. 18 Planning & Zoning meeting and the Sept. 2 meeting of the Board of Commissioners. The issue was discussed at length by P&Z commission members during the Aug. 18 meeting.
During that meeting, Zoning Officer Tim Pitrowski stated that, without any action, an applicant could come into the P&Z Office and apply for a conditional use in M-2 zoning. Without any restrictions in place, they could basically do whatever they wanted.
P&Z member Teresa Chambers commented it was not about what board members think about data centers personally.
“We have to have some standards in place,” she said.
Commission member Kyle Presley made the motion to approve the text amendment with staff recommendations and the addition of a requirement that an environmental impact study is including data centers applications.
That meeting can be viewed in its entirety on the Jones County website, jonescountyga. org.
The questions of noise, water, power and environmental impact were discussed at length with the decision of recommending approval of the amendment in large part because Jones County had nothing addressing data centers.
All subsequent meetings of the Jones County Commissioners and Planning and Zoning Commission are also available to view.
When the amendment came before the commissioners Sept. 2, Commissioner Sam Kitchens asked for it to be postponed until Sept. 16 to allow more time for research and to become familiar with the topic. The postponement is entirely within the discretion of the commissioners.
Zoning officer Tim Pitrowski explained at the Aug. 18 P&Z meeting that, without something in the county’s Comprehensive Land Development Resolution, the county would have little control over the building of a data center within an industrial zone.
He also noted that a data center not only affects the county in which it resides but also the counties around it. A data center in a neighboring county could affect utility prices, water levels and the environment, especially if those counties do not have protections in place. Jones County could potentially suffer the downside without reaping any tax benefits.
The CLDR amendment specifies the acreage required, sound and lighting limitations, a closed-loop cooling system to protect county water, setbacks, buffers and more. The intent of the amendment, according to Jones County commissioners and P&Z board members is to have protections in place.
An issue was brought up at the Oct. 20 P&Z meeting about the legality of the advertising for the amendment.
Pitrowski said he missed the cutoff date to run the first advertisement for the Sept. 2 Board of Commissioners meeting in the county’s legal organ, The Jones County News.
The advertisement was run in the Macon Telegraph the week of July 27 and then in the Jones County News Aug. 7. Ads had been run in the Telegraph previously in similar circumstances, but the officer said there is not a legal precedent that allows it.
For that reason, and the importance of having the protections for the county in place, it will be advertised again. The 90-day moratorium makes that process possible.
Jones County did receive an application for a data center, but it was withdrawn before it came before the Planning and Zoning commission at their Oct. 20 meeting. Several of those opposed to the approval of the application still came to the meeting and were given the opportunity to speak in opposition to a data center.
The topic of the renewal of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax has also been a popular topic on social media. Jones County’s SPLOST was first approved in 1999 and has been renewed each time it has come up for renewal since.
The one-cent tax has saved property tax payers millions of dollars over the past 26 years by funding big-ticket items, such as road paving, water lines, recreation centers, parks, equipment for the Jones County and Gray fire departments and law enforcement.
The claims the SPLOST is a new tax is absolutely wrong and could be costly for taxpayers.
SPLOST is a one-penny tax that is charged on every purchase in Jones County and Gray. That means people coming to the community to attend ballgames, buy gas or eat at restaurants also help pay for those big-ticket items.
