The Eatonton City Council has agreed to explore establishing local rules and regulations for potential data centers within city limits.
City Administrator Gary Sanders introduced the issue shortly after the City Council’s scheduled Aug. 4 meeting began. He explained that the proposal is not about approving or rejecting any particular project, but rather making sure the city has a zoning framework in place.
“There has been a lot of discussion in the community about data centers,” Sanders told the council. “We need to get ahead of this and have regulations on the books, and that is the purpose.”
The timing reflects a broader surge in interest in data center development across Georgia. Nationally, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving demand for increasingly large computing facilities, while communities are wrestling with questions about electricity, water, land use and other infrastructure demands.
Councilman Michael Smith, representing Wards 2 and 3, helped review the proposed ordinance and said the city cannot afford to wait until a project is already under consideration before establishing its rules.
“This does not say whether we are or are not getting a data center,” Smith stressed. “But we need to get something in place. Right now, we don’t have anything.”
Smith said Georgia’s — and Eatonton and Putnam County’s — appeal to “technology processing facilities” is difficult to overlook.
“Data centers are attracted here,” he said. “We have what they’re looking for: land and infrastructure as far as electricity and water goes.”
That combination, Smith added, helps explain why Eatonton and Putnam County have increasingly become part of the conversation.
He also urged council members to study the proposal carefully rather than simply approve it as presented.
“It’s a good document, but there’s probably some things that may need to be added or may need to be taken away,” he said.
Though Sanders had earlier clarified that the city’s proposed amendments are not identical to language being considered by Putnam County, he said they do “borrow substantially” from the county’s approach.
Council members present then voted unanimously to advance proposed amendments to the city’s ordinance regulating potential data centers within Eatonton city limits. The proposal next goes to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for review and recommendation before returning to the council for a public hearing and possible final adoption.
Sanders said the city anticipated advertising the proposal for the required 15-day period, which could put the commission’s public hearing on Sept. 14. The council could then take final action at its Sept. 21 meeting, although Sanders emphasized that all legislative language can be changed during the review process.
He also stressed again that the council’s action does not mean a data center is coming to Eatonton. Rather, it establishes a process for determining how such facilities would be treated under the city’s zoning regulations if a proposal were to emerge.
The council also dealt with several unrelated matters during last Tuesday’s meeting, including approving a $49,000 increase to the engineering agreement for its City Center Stage project. The additional expense resulted from a new U.S. Department of Agriculture requirement for a full-time construction inspector to be present whenever the contractor is working, as Cory Johnson of Simonton Engineering explained to the council.
All six council members present voted to approve the expenditure and keep the project moving. Plans include creating a large triangular canopy extending from the stage to shade most of the grassy hill, along with other improvements to the stage grounds behind Barrel 118 in downtown Eatonton.
Additionally, Sanders explained that the council will need to work with the Board of Elections to notify all voters of its plan to move the city’s polling location for the November 2027 election to the soon-to-be-opened Eatonton Municipal Complex at the former Putnam County Elementary School site at the corner of Oak Street and South Washington Street.
“The requirement that we have is to run the notice for two consecutive weeks, and we are now ... but it’s now time for council to consider the actual resolution declaring that change,” Sanders said. “You have a resolution that would affect the change of the polling place. Voters were given the opportunity to submit written objections and to be heard tonight. We received no written objections or feedback contrary.”
The council voted unanimously to approve the polling site relocation.
The council also approved Eatonton Public Works to look into spending up to $7,200 from approximately $17,000 in remaining SPLOST 8 funds for roof repairs at the former state prison, which is currently leased to Tytan Pictures.
A road closure permit from 2 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, for North Madison Avenue near its intersection with West Marion Street also was unanimously approved by the council for the second annual Eatonton Main Street “CandyMania” Halloween event.
The next scheduled meeting for the Eatonton City Council is Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. in Room 203 at the County Administration Building, 117 Putnam Drive, Eatonton.