Columbia County is a step closer to creating a nearly 2,000-acre technology park that could accommodate more than 8 million square feet of data centers.
The county’s planning commission is scheduled to consider a request Thursday, May 1 from the Economic Development Authority of Columbia County to rezone two pieces of property totaling 1,945.05 acres behind White Oak Business Park, between Harlem and Appling, a recent application showed.
The county placed the project’s “estimated value at build-out” at $11.6 billion, and is expected to collect more than $118 million annually in estimated local tax revenue, according to a separate filing with the state.
Because of the project’s large scale, Columbia County submitted a “Development of Regional Impact,” or DRI, statement to the Georgia Department of Commnuntiy Affairs. Georgia classifies DRIs as “large-scale developments that are likely to have regional effects beyond the local government jurisdiction in which they are located,” according to the DCA.
Currently classified as residential-agricultural, the land would need to be rezoned to S-1 to allow high-tech activities under the name White Oak Technology Park.
Those uses include data centers; research and development facilities; cybersecurity providers; and digital infrastructure and advanced technology companies.
Data centers house computer hardware and networking equipment to support and store the massive amounts of data generated constantly by the world’s computer users.
Other property uses associated with data centers and technology facilities also would be allowed, at the discretion of Columbia County’s director of Planning Services, according to a staff report prepared by county planners.
Together, the vast pieces of property stretch near Appling-Harlem Road from Columbia Road to Interstate 20, bordered on much of its eastern side by Kiokee Creek. White Oak Branch and its tributaries also run through the property.
An illustration accompanying the EDACC’s application shows a proposed use of the space for up to 29 data centers. Each data center is shown covering 275,000 square feet.
Six electricity substations to power the centers would cover 82 acres.
Data centers aso require massive amounts of water to cool the constantly humming hardware. County planners said the project’s developer likely would use a glycol-based cooling system to reduce water use. Glycol is a common component of antifreeze coolant.
The Columbia County Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. May 1 at the Evans Government Center on Ronald Reagan Drive.
