Despite outcry, Twiggs skips review, approves data center

Twiggs County commissioners faced an uproar of boos and shouts from residents Thursday evening after approving a data center proposal that would rezone nearly 300 acres in Dry Branch for the multibillion-dollar project.

The data center is set to be built on Adams Park Road on land owned by the Weyerhaeuser Co., a national timberland company. The commission’s decision comes a day after several Q-and-A sessions offered the public an opportunity to learn more from Eagle Rock Partners, the developers of the data center. 

The meeting lasted more than two hours. Attendees packed the meeting room, with overflow crowds in the hallway. 

The center will bring 600 jobs to Twiggs County, said Ken Loeber, founding partner of the North Carolina-based development firm.

Terri Howard, president of Oconee Electric Membership Corporation, told attendees and commissioners construction and operation of the data center would have no effect on local electric bills. 

The utility company leader, along with Twiggs County Public Schools Superintendent Mack Bullard, were among those who spoke in support of the project.

Loeber addressed concerns about the data center’s water usage by holding up a plastic water bottle to represent the daily amount needed with the center’s planned “closed-loop” non-evaporative cooling system. 

He said “forward-thinking” people embraced the development of a train depot in Twiggs County in 1900 and the addition of power lines in the 1940s. He encouraged the community to support the data center as a “very large opportunity to move forward.”

During public comment for those opposed to the project, Wilkinson County resident Elizabeth Tyre gave the commission a petition against its construction. The petition was signed by more than 360 individuals. 

“My family’s always lived here,” she said before the commission meeting. “I authored the petition to just let everybody’s voices be heard.” 

Twiggs County resident and Warner Robins-based attorney Rob Fricks questioned the legality of granting project approval without regional review. He was supported by many attendees in calling for the commission to review the project as a development of regional impact, a classification from the state’s Department of Community Affairs.

According to the department’s website, that classification means the development would have wide-ranging effects — with some of those outside of the local government’s jurisdiction.

Regional review is “common sense,” Twiggs County resident Julia Asherman said, comparing the commission’s decision to forgo that process to purchasing a house without hiring an inspector.

“If the developer is so sure that this project is a benefit to us, then I would think he would welcome that opportunity to prove it with a DRI that gives a favorable assessment,” she said before the start of the commission meeting.

Asherman is an organic vegetable farmer who parked her red tractor outside of the courthouse with a sign with a Nike logo and the inscription “Just Due Diligence.”

Although she said she opposed the rezoning of agricultural land for development purposes, she said her main concern is that the commission’s approval process “has been really rushed.”

“The question of the data center itself is not what I’m here to address,” she said. “I’m here to address the process — whether or not this has been democratic, whether or not it’s been transparent.”

County Attorney Kerry Howell told the commission “there are no applicable threshold criteria” for a DRI study for a data center, and it is not mandatory by the county’s ordinances. He noted the state community affairs department might pass some proposed rules for data centers on Nov. 20, but they wouldn’t go into effect until Dec. 20 — if passed at all.

Howell also recommended commissioners avoid designating the property as fully industrial. Instead, he urged officials to approve a commercial zoning with conditional use — allowing only a data center to be built.

When Commission Chair Ken Fowler asked about the potential impact of delaying project approval and initiating the regional review, Loeber said such a hold-up would kill the project.

A few residents spoke in support of the data center, saying it would bring jobs and financial stability. 

“It is time for Twiggs County to grow,” said Claudia Fitzpatrick, a resident of the county for five decades. 

Another attendee urged residents to not “stand in the way of progress.”