Jefferson, Georgia, City Council confirms data centers not permitted under current zoning code
Jefferson City Planner Jerry Weitz informed the city council that data centers are not currently a permitted use in any zoning district within the city. For a data center to be built, the council would first need to approve a text amendment to the Land Use Management Code, followed by a special or conditional use permit for a specific site. There is no current pathway for data centers without these changes.
The Jefferson City Council recently received an update on the city's Land Use Management Code concerning data centers. City Planner Jerry Weitz informed the council that the current code does not list "data center" as a permitted use in any zoning district, and there is no comparable classification. This means, under a general provision prohibiting unlisted uses, data centers cannot be built in Jefferson as the code is presently written.
Weitz explained that for a company to develop a data center in the city, the council would first need to approve a text amendment to the code, explicitly adding data centers as a permitted use. Following this, a special or conditional use permit would be required for any specific site. City staff confirmed that while this option remains open for future consideration, no such pathway currently exists in the code.