“We essentially have a lame duck property right now,” Eric Varnadoe, chairman of the Jones County Development Authority, said in refence to Griswoldville Industrial Park.
“We’re dead in the water,” Kevin Brown, JDA attorney, agreed.
A group of Jones County residents filed a lawsuit against Jones County in February. While the authority is not listed as a defendant, the industrial park it owns is mentioned at least 13 times, first on page four of the 56-page lawsuit.
“They’ve succeeded; we can’t do anything,” Varnadoe said. “So don’t sit here and say we’re not doing our jobs by not bringing in other opportunities when we can’t. Because they mentioned us in a lawsuit.”
Brown added the property is the authority’s largest asset, but it can’t be marketed.
The park is 956 acres with significant investment from the county to bring sewer, a fire station and other infrastructure to the site.
Jones County footed the bill to buy the property in 2006 using SPLOST funds, and millions of taxpayer dollars have gone into site improvements, tests and operations in the 20 years since.
Board member Chris Weiters said the authority needed to focus on the park’s neighbors, but industry is necessary.
“The folks in the industrial park and the neighbors out there are being done a disservice by folks that are making this an adversarial situation,” he said. “Because when someone comes and spends a billion dollars, that’s a thousand million.”
Varnadoe emphasized that the board is doing its best to expand the tax base to reduce the strain on Jones County taxpayers.
“We’re a bunch of volunteers,” he said. “We’re not here trying to make money for ourselves. We’re trying to float the boat for the whole community.”
The county filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in March, but Brown said the judge wants to set a hearing on the motion.
“You’re probably talking 2027,” he said. In the meantime, board member Mickey Parker pointed out that Jones County property owners will get new property value assessments after the countywide revaluation to standardize the way properties are taxed.
“And you’re going to have a lot of people that are upset,” he said. “Even though the millage rate will go down, they’re going to really be attuned to their real estate taxes and anything that might reduce it, which industrial development would.”
Varnadoe signed a letter of intent on behalf of JDA to sell the entire 956-acre site for $25 million to Eagle Rock Partners LLC. Due to some sticking points in the negotiations, the JDA voted in March to put the sale on hold.
The authority has not had any positive activity, either from data center developers or other industrial prospects, because of the lawsuit. Potential litigation is reported to anyone looking at the site as part of the due diligence process.
The lawsuit
Jones County Commissioners initially approved a moratorium on data centers in October of 2025 so that more research could be done before adopting zoning language that would set parameters for a future facility.
During that time, the board had three work sessions with concerned citizens. Once that process concluded, the commissioners approved an amendment to its land use plan to add a conditional use for data centers, meaning one could not be approved without coming back in front of the board of commissioners.
The lawsuit challenges that process, describing it as “a sweeping, reactionary land-use decision adopted without compliance with mandatory statutory procedures and in violation of guaranteed, constitutional due process protections.”
The injuries to the plaintiffs are described as “distinct from those suffered by the general public and include site-specific hydrologic risk, aquifer contamination exposure, infrastructure burden, and environmental degradation affecting their properties.”
There are 17 plaintiffs, all from Jones County, according to the suit. They are Alexandra Lefholz, Barbara Davis, Dwaine Davis, Dana Tice, Chris Tice, Cindy Bailey, John Bailey, Luann McCook, Mac McCook, Linda Dixon, Tommy Dixon, Patsy Houston, Tanner Bailey, James Kasulka, Shelby Kasulka, Dustin Riley and Keith Riley.
The plaintiffs are all residents of Jones County and have standing “due to their residences being located in proximity to, abutting, or hydrologically connected to the Griswoldville Industrial Park.”
Lefholz and Dustin Riley are administrators of the Facebook group, “NO DATA CENTERS IN JONES COUNTY,” which has been used to voice concerns over the environmental and health effects of data centers.
Attorneys on the lawsuit are listed as Brittany Calhoun and Robert A. Fricks Sr.
Economic impact
The development authority earlier this year commissioned a fiscal impact analysis of a data center in Jones County from an economic expert in Atlanta.
For the county, the capital investment by a potential hyperscale data center over 20 years is estimated at $30.1 billion, creating 450 jobs with an average wage around $100,000. The resulting sales taxes, property taxes and other sources of revenue would bring in $521 million before expenses. Expenses to government services over the 20-year period is estimated at $5.2 million. That could provide $19.8 million back to county residents in reduced ad valorem taxes —per year.
That’s just the county. The school system would bring in another $574 million over 20 years with $5.7 million in expenses.
That brings the net present value — using today’s dollars instead of forecasting — to $644 million over 20 years after expenses.
These reports can be found by clicking “Informative Session Q&A” at developjonesco. org.
