Jones County Commissioners dealt with a text amendment that has nothing to do with data centers at their second meeting in October but will nevertheless have impact on county residents.
Board Chairman Chris Weidner called the Oct. 21 meeting to order with the opening prayer and pledge led by Rev. John Haney, who serves as chaplain for the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
Weidner asked for approval of the agenda, and Commissioner Sam Kitchens made a motion to add an item to Old Business. The request was to add Item 3, a discussion of the text amendment pertaining to data center. The motion was approved unanimously, and the agenda approved with the addition.
There was no new business, and the first item of Old Business was a proposed text amendment presented by County Administrator Jason Rizner.
The administrator said his office routinely gets calls about drainage issues, and many of the issues are because houses are essentially built in holes.
“That makes it hard or impossible to fix,” Rizner said.
He said he spoke with Zoning Officer Tim Pritrowski, who drafted the language for the text amendment.
Pitrowski said he spoke to other jurisdictions before drafting the wording of the amendment to set clear standards for foundation elevations based on lot drainage patterns. He said the basic issue is property should drain toward the road, and the structure needs to be higher.
Exemptions to the residential standard would be property more than one acre and designed by a licensed engineer.
Commissioner Daylon Martin asked if the standard would apply to the entire county, and the answer was yes.
Weidner commented that high and dry was always the rule.
“I think this is overdue,” he said.
Kitchens said he was trying to think of scenarios the change would affect and asked for postponement of the item to have time for more research.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn asked if this issue came up with new construction. Pitrowski said it does, especially in the City of Gray.
“There are cases these issues could have been alleviated,” the officer said.
Commissioner John Wood said the amendment would give people protection, and he wished it had been done years ago.
Pitrowski said if approved, the elevation standard would be added to the inspection checklist.
Kitchens made the motion to postpone the text amendment, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Rizner then spoke about the next item, the first reading of a purchasing ordinance to assist local vendors when bidding on county projects. The issue was brought to the board in a previous meeting by Martin.
The ordinance governing the purchase of goods and services would add a section on local preference. That would take the form of adding 25 points for a local vendor in the RFP process.
Rizner said by law, the ordinance would not apply to any state or federal projects. The second reading and a vote on the adoption of the ordinance will take place at its next reading.
Kitchens began the discussion of the data center text amendment. He said it has been the hottest topic by far and has generated a lot of misinformation, speculation and accusations.
The commissioner added that a lot of viable information has come forward, and he was appreciative of that. The information included valid concerns if the text amendment was properly advertised.
“The Planning and Zoning Board and staff have done a ton of work,” he said. “The amendment was made to put protections in place if a data center tried to come to Jones County.”
Kitchens said, due to all the concerns, he was making a motion to put a 90-day moratorium for all data center applications.
“That will give the board time to research and strengthen the codes in place. Jones County is one of 11 counties in the state considering data center ordinances,” he said.
Martin asked why the haste in the moratorium. He said his wish was if the people concerned had taken the time to visit existing data centers.
“We have never done anything to harm our county, and we are trying to do the right thing,” the commissioner stated.
Kitchens said he understood that concern, but there was information that something was missed.
“If that is true, we are not protected. That’s why I would like to put a hold on things,” he said.
Wood agreed that they need to proceed with caution.
Weidner said the only way not to have to deal with data centers would be for everyone to agree to throw away their smart phones.
Vaughn said most data centers are currently in China, but she agreed with the 90-day moratorium.
The chairman called for a vote, and the motion for the moratorium was approved 4-1 with Martin opposed.
Department heads
Pitrowski asked with the moratorium in place if the board wanted to restart the text amendment process.
Kitchens made a motion to proceed with the text amendment, and the vote to approve was again 4-1 with Martin opposed.
Public Works Director Jerry Arnold reported that progress is being made with the parking lot and trails for Jake’s Woods. He also said he was traveling to Fayette County to look at a new dirt road reclamation process.
Comments
Martin stated that Jones County is a great place to live, and he was hopeful for the potential for revenue with a data center.
“I hope this experience is helpful for us all. We are here for you and are going to do what is best,” he said. Vaughn said it has been a long three weeks and added that the proposed location of the data center was in her back yard, too.
“There are so many positives, but it has to be in the right place with the right limitations,” she said.
Weidner said he remembers the first traffic light in Gray in the 1970s.
“This is still a strong community that always comes together to help each other,” he said. “I appreciate the input. It’s important.”
Wood said Jones County is one community.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people, and they all have good points. We all want lower taxes and better services. I would love to see a full-time fire department, but we won’t get there without industry,” he said.
Kitchens said the commissioners have signed up for this.
“We love our county and will continue to fight for it,” he said.
The commissioner also took the opportunity to talk about the upcoming vote to renew Jones County’s one-cent sales tax. His first emphasis was that the SPLOST vote was a renewal of a tax that has existed in Jones County since 1999.
“We have needs. We have to have a courthouse, and the money to pave roads has to come from somewhere,” he said.
Kitchens pointed out that this board has rolled back the tax rate every year and it is currently three mills lower than it was 10 years ago. He said the issues with the property valuations and tax digest were state mandated and had to be fixed.
The next scheduled meeting of the Board of Commissioners is Nov. 4.
