DeKalb forum set for Sept. 15 on data centers, voting rights
The DeKalb Citizens Coalition is hosting a community forum on data center developments, as DeKalb County continues its moratorium on new data centers. This comes after the county rejected a large project in Ellenwood and the Zoning Board of Appeals upheld a denial for Shadowbox Studios, which has now sued the county.
The DeKalb Citizens Coalition is hosting a "Know Your Rights" community forum on September 15th for south DeKalb voters to discuss proposed data center developments and their local impacts. The forum, to be held at Gresham Library, aims to inform residents about issues affecting them in the November election, including how data centers, climate change, and rising prices could affect DeKalb County.
This initiative comes amid ongoing data center controversies in DeKalb County, Georgia. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners previously approved and has since extended a moratorium on data center development until March 30, 2027, citing a lack of land use regulations and the need to research potential impacts on residents, the environment, and county infrastructure, including water supply. Recently, the Commissioners rejected a proposed $1.6 billion data center project in Ellenwood, and the DeKalb Zoning Board of Appeals upheld a staff decision denying Shadowbox Studios' bid to build a large data center on a 155-acre site in southwest DeKalb County. Shadowbox Studios has responded by suing the county, claiming the moratorium is invalid and asserting its right to build the more than 1-million-square-foot data center.