Concerned Twiggs residents sue to stop data center

A group of Twiggs County residents are suing the county’s governing board following its decision to approve the development of a multibillion-dollar data center.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 25, challenges commissioners on their  Sept. 18 decision to rezone nearly 300 acres of agricultural land for data center construction and use on Adams Park Road in the Dry Branch community

“This is not what the people moved out to these areas for,” said Nancy Lubeck, one of the plaintiffs. “We moved out here for nature and for how peaceful it is … we didn’t want to live in the city and around industry.”

Lubeck and her fellow plaintiffs said they own properties near the approved data center land and “will suffer irreparable injury” from the commission’s decision, according to the lawsuit. It was filed in the county’s Superior Court.

Lubeck and her husband — Twiggs County residents for nearly 30 years — live less than 2 miles from the approved data center’s location. She said she was also concerned that the project would expand beyond the roughly 291 county-approved acres, but developer Ken Loeber of Eagle Rock Partners, a North Carolina-based development firm, confirmed the project will not go beyond its designated zone. 

The lawsuit argues that county-approved procedures surrounding rezoning public notices were not upheld. Plaintiffs also allege commissioners failed to seek regional review for the project, which would have prompted a state survey of the project’s potential multi-county impact.

The lawsuit also states that the county approved the project’s zoning application — which includes access to State Highway 96 — without permission from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

As a result, the board engaged in “abuse of its police and zoning powers,” according to a copy of the lawsuit.

“We voted them into office, and they are not listening to the people,” Lubeck said.

Commission Chair Ken Fowler declined to comment on the litigation. 

Developer Loeber said the case will not delay the data center’s projected development timeline.

A Facebook group coordinating local activity against the data center’s development has attracted more than 600 members. A petition to put the matter on a public ballot has also been launched.

Residents like Lubeck have voiced concerns about the environmental impact of the data center. She said she is specifically worried about the center depleting the county’s aquifer — a layer of underground rock that holds groundwater — and any effects the development may have on local wells.

Philip McCreanor, chair of environmental and civil engineering at Mercer University, said residents are right to question the impact of the center even beyond the county line. He said rural communities around the U.S. need to start having similar discussions — and begin deciding if local governments should shoulder infrastructure expenses for a for-profit data center.

He said that, in addition to other concerns, data center development will burden local roads and add to a county’s expenses. He likened the current discussion around data center development across the country to “Not In My Backyard” protests surrounding landfills.

McCreanor said that, although the construction of data centers creates jobs, he has not seen significant employment upticks after a project is built out.

Despite these matters, the professor said he believes data centers, which store vast amounts of digital information and are crucial for internet services, are inevitable and “critical to America’s future.”

“We need to figure out a way to be on board with this — while respecting community rights, environmental rights,” McCreanor said.