Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

like to call the November November 6, 2025 planning commission meeting to order. Please stand for the invocation given by Mr. Russell Wilder and the pledge given by Mr. Jamie Lester.

I would bow with us. Dear Lord, we want to thank you for another beautiful day in this community. We want to thank you for the many blessings you bestow upon Columbia County and this great country of ours. Oh, we ask that you give us wisdom and guidance to see behave civily and do the best we can to to treat these matters professionally. Uh we ask that you look over all of our our first responders, our our sheriff's office and the deputies for all they do for us and the risk they sometimes put themselves in for us. And also we ask that you give all of us that have taken time out of this week to come to this meeting a safe journey home from this Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.

One nationisible for all. We do have a full quorum tonight. All planning and zoning commissioners attendance like to get approval of the minutes of the previous meeting October 16, 2025. I make a motion to approve the minutes from the October 16th meeting. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor raise right hand. Motion carries. I'd like to get approval of the agenda for this evening. Chairman, I make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to clarify that the planning commission is a recommending body to the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. Decisions made on reszoning and variance request tonight will be forwarded to the commissioners for final action on November 18th, 2025. If you wish to address the board of commissioners at their meeting, please see Miss Mixon to obtain a request to speak form. Any request with a public hearing will have a minimum of 10 minutes permitted per side for the presentation of opinions, data, and evidence by proponents or opponents of a request. The applicant will be allowed to speak first, and any member of the public may speak after. Either side may seed their time during the hearing if they so desire. Getting into the debate agenda. New business final plat H1 A1 Abundance Point phase 2. Danielle.

Yes, sir. This is a final plat for phase two of Abundance Point um off Abundance Way. It is for an additional seven lots to be platted in this subdivision. Uh this shows the location um off Camp Road. It is currently zoned R4 recreational residential. And the final plat adds seven additional residential lots to this development with a minimum lot size of 0.98 acres and an average lot size of 1.67 acres. This does meet the requirements of the R4 zoning district. Setbacks are a minimum of 55 ft from the center line of center line of the road and 10 ft from the side and rear property lines and there is 2.99 acres of open space in this development. Uh there is no public infrastructure for this project. Everything will be on wells and septic systems and the road will be private. Um access to this site is from Camper Club Road which is in the process of being developed um to county standards. Uh the remainder of the road construction is bonded to allow approval of the final plat at this time and staff is recommending approval.

Okay. This is not public hearing. Um make can I get a motion please? Uh Mr. Chairman, I make a motion uh to approve the final plat for abundance. Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. Massage operator's license H1B1. Uh L Atheatic Studio LLC will shest for massage operator licenses. Got two of them this evening. First one is Lux Aesthetic Studio LLC Street or Rosier 4571 Cox Road Suite A. Also offering mobile massage services. Also we have Revive Massage and Body Bodywork LLC. Applicants are Jenny Goodell and Andrea Morris. 205 News Pier Drive Sweet D. All these applicants meet the requirements of the ordinance. Staff recommends approval. Good. Thank you, Will. Do I have a motion?

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion for approval for massage oper operator's license for Lexus. Second. Have a motion and a second. Just to make sure is is just for the one. They're read for uh Yeah. Okay. Yes. Take a separate motion for the second one. Okay. I have a motion and a second for the first. All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. Get a motion. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the massage operator license for Revive Massage and Bodywork LLC at 205 New Petersburg Drive Suit. Second.

I have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. Public hearing uh point of of the agenda. Temporary use authorization H1C1 6956 Moontown Drive East. Dylan.

Uh, yes sir. This is an application for a temporary use. This shows theation of the parcel. Aerial photo a little up. Uh, the zoning for this parcel and all surrounding parcels are is RA. Uh, and this is a breakdown of the site as it generally is currently. the primary residence of the property was completed a little bit earlier. This um during the construction of that process, the property owner son of uh current applicants completed the construction of that primary residence while making use temporary use authorization for the existing single wide shown here. Um now, uh the property owners parents are seeking to make use of a separate temporary use as they look to complete construction of an ancillary dwelling on the site. Well, um obviously that being the case, they're familiar with this process and complied with the first application amongst the now separately we process without issue. These are the floor plans uh for the ancillary dwelling that they're proposing separately. There was a variance that they applied for to 1,800 square foot maximum selling on a property. We're not here to review that tonight. That already was good to move forward with these plans deciding whether or not they're a continue making use of single wide until they beat the construction half is recommended.

Thank you, Dylan. Uh would the owner uh Wayne Lukan or applicant Christine and William Lukan would like to come forward and add anything? Anyone here in the audience would like to speak against this? Can I get a motion? Chairman, I make a motion to approve the temporary use authorization. A second.

I [clears throat] have a motion on the floor and second. And all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. Next item on the agenda, H1C2, minor S S1 revision on Dodto Drive. Nana.

Yes, sir. This is a minor revision to the S1 special zoning, the location at 3940 Dodto Drive on 2.43 acres. The existing use is a church and the request is to add a storage building to the rear of the property. Here is the location on the south side of Dodto Drive. This is the zoning map. Shows the S1 which is for the church. Surrounding is R3 single family residential and the red you can see there is general commercial. There's a closeup of the aerial where you can see the existing buildings and a plat of the property. This is a street view. And in 1996, the S1 zoning was approved for the church that was there existing. And they wanted to rebuild and uh into a new sanctuary that was 8,200 square ft. And that was approved and that was a plan from then. The current request is a storage building of 1500 square feet. is located towards the back of the property and meets the 20 ft setbacks that was part of the original plan and it will be used just for storage related to the church. And this is the photo of the review and elevations of the proposed building and staff is recommending approval.

Would the owner or applicant would like to come forward and add anything to this? Any other member would like to speak against this? Can I get a motion? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve file RZ25-11-01 minor S1 revision for a storage building at 3940 Dotto Drive. Second.

I have a motion on the floor and second. All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. Next item on the agenda, H1C3 RZ25-11-2 Major PUD at Windmill Parkway. Dylan.

Yes, sir. Uh, this is an application for a major revision, the planned unit development at uh 975 Parkway. [clears throat] Uh, this shows the location of the parcel again within the plantation subdivision. Uh it's within a later section of that subdivision that is own plan unit and this is a closeup of the property. Um the issues that we're dealing with with this application are the gazebo that you see in the southernmost corner of the property um as well as uh the pool in the backyard. Um this shows uh an existing site survey for the property. It shows that that gazebo was constructed uh little over two and a half feet from the wall. Um at its size, it is subject to five foot setback. So it is uh violating that uh setback. Additionally, um uh due to an oversight, typically residential lots have a 10-ft rear setback. Um back in 2020 2021, um the property owner applied for a permit to construct a pool. um unbeknownst to them and as well to uh inspectors on the county side, there's actually a atypical um 20 foot rear setback. So the pool that you saw in the backyard is actually technically set back on this property as well. Um both of those issues are what we're applying for provisions. Um generally with uh setback reductions, what we're looking at is adverse impact on neighbors or surrounding property. Um when this issue was kind of found out uh we councled the uh property owners to get with their HOA and see approval at that level uh keep the structure. Um they have then set about work to landscape it quite well. This is shown in these photos here. Um this area of the property is generally pretty well landscaped and therefore that kind of

mitigates a lot of the concerns with any kind of adverse visual impact on the surrounding neighbors. um through that HOA review process, they did receive approval as well as uh several tendered uh letters of support from their neighbors. Um the only outstanding issue at this point with the presence or the gazebo's presence is that the gazebo reaches into a drainage and utility easement along that side lot line. Um so there is a condition of approval that we are recommending uh that an easement encroachment be filed. uh the applicant is familiar with that process because their pool deck already [clears throat] reaches into an drainage and utility easement. They filed that easement encroachment agreement previously. Familiar with that process, they actually filed this subject easement uh in congruence with this uh application. So that is already in process and in the process of being resolved. Um, beyond that, the only other condition that we're proposing is that the reduction of the already very small 5- foot side setback only apply to the gazebo as it exists currently. Um, that way 5 foot or 10 foot side setback that would apply to other structures in the future will remain intact. The only exception at the moment that we're seeking to recommend approval the existing gaze.

Thank you, Dylan. Would the owner and applicant Gabriella would like to come forward and add anything what Dylan's narrative? Okay. Any other member here would like to speak against this? Can I get a motion? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to recommend approval with conditions of file RZ25-11-02 major pud revision to reduce the side and rear 975 Parkway.

Second. [clears throat] I have a motion on the floor and second. All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. Next item on the agenda H1C4 RZ25-11-3 reszoning from RA to S1. Will sharers this is request for reszoning at 538 5385 Washington Road about 12 acres from RA to S1 for proposed outdoor vehicle storage yard. This location of the property again just down from the intersection of Tubman and Washington Road. Does involve all three of those properties there. And again, most everything around it is zoned RA. We do have some S1 to the north zone S1 or zon church and then some C2 further at Washington Road. Again, shows a view of the site and the plat of the property and the site itself and the overall concept plan. So, what we're what we're looking at tonight is an outdoor storage yard. Uh again, this is essentially parking lot end of the day uh for storage of vehicles. Um typically we see these as actual self storage buildings with this being kind of secondary. This is kind of the second one we've seen in the last six months where it's only a storage yard itself. Um again, it's kind of the bare minimum to use a property. Uh realistically, uh they've done a little a little bit different way of going about this. Uh usually the paving material is the biggest question of these. uh typically asphalt is not is what we want to see. Uh gravel is not. However, they have kind of done an interesting way of of kind of asking us for this thing with the gravel. They'll increase their buffers to 50 ft on the front, 40 feet on the sides instead of 30 uh for the asphalt. So, it's one of those there's a bit of a trade-off here. Um nothing with the lighting is is in is is within this request. Um however, we do have some conditions kind of talking about that. Uh it's one this is one of those things where this area is is a rural neighborhoods area rural neighborhoods character area supposed to have things like neighborhoods within it. Uh having

things that are essentially heavy commercial or industrial uses uh we realistically cannot recommend approval of something like that. Uh from a market standpoint uh you could there is an argument for potentially. So this is a an interesting way interesting project to consider. Go to the next slide. Okay. It shows the rural neighborhood care I was talking about. Overall, staff does not recommend approval of this uh request. Uh there is some conditions on the next slide. If you do propose going in that direction again requiring you to have assholder concrete on the property, the structural bers being increased to 40 ft against RA and 10 ft against adjacent S1 and also lying on the side of his shoulder and directed away from adjacent properties. That clear staff recommendation.

Thank you. Will would the owner um LDN LLC or applicant LSD development LLC would like to come forward and speak? Speak your name and address for the record, please.

Good evening. I'm Bill Quarter uh 842 Sparkleberry Road, Evans, uh with Bluewater Engineering. I'm not the owner or the applicant, but I'm here on their behalf. Uh the applicant could not be here tonight. Just to clarify, the applicant does not yet own the property. He's interested in purchasing the property for the purpose you see here. Um can we go back to the zoning slide that shows the existing zoning? So um as you know this is out you know generally in what we would call the Riverwood area and um development is you know expanding outside of the the current current node. Uh there is some C2 commercial just on the other side of the intersection from this and so you know at some point there's probably going to be more commercial development in that area. I I think the proposed use here is pretty innocuous. You know when you think of boat and RV storage it's not going to be a lot of activity in and out. People are tend to tend to come to the site store their boat or RV and leave and and not be there. So, as Will mentioned, the the applicant has offered some additional buffers. You know, they would like to do gravel. Uh really just for early on cost savings so they can generate some some revenue and and pave it in the future. Uh we do realize that that comes with some challenges in Columbia County. Uh one thing that I don't think is in the the narrative or on the plan, but they could also do some additional screening. The idea being that you wouldn't see this from the road from a gravel standpoint. Um, you know, they they haven't really thought through lighting to be honest. That question came up, but if lighting were to be added, they want to be good neighbors. So, you know, a condition for a phototric plan and lighting shielding so that there's not any light pollution on adjoining properties would would

certainly be reasonable. Other than that, I think that pretty much covers it. I'm glad to answer any questions that any of you might have. Mr. Corder, um the thing occurs to me when I go by there, the line of traffic I'm typically in at this location, we're going 50 55 miles an hour, right? It's not really a bad blind spot. There is a good decent amount of sight distance. I'm curious, is there any any plans of a turn a del lane or or anything like that to to kind of mitigate me going 55 and all a sudden a boat trailer in front of me making a right-hand turn off Washington Road.

Right. So, this is just a conceptual plan of the site for zoning. Uh if the zoning is approved and the applicant purchase the prop property and goes forward, we would have to go through a full site plan. And one of the things that we would have to do from a traffic standpoint is uh look at that. I would think that a del lane would certainly be required for that left turn as well. Uh possibly that that depends on traffic. That would really be a a call based on you know whatever the the traffic reviewers would say. I think in this case that would be DOT. Correct. Will

that's correct. So, we would have to have a DOT permit for the proposed entrance and most likely some form of a traffic study to determine if a left turn would be warranted. Thank you. The other possibility is they may limit it to right in, right out only with a del lane and there wouldn't be any left turns across Washington Road. I'm not a traffic engineer, but I play one on TV. Um I suspect that would be the condition that they would like to see right in right out and would not want to see a left turn. Yeah. Because half the vehicles for recreational and they're going to be coming from the lake at some point after they leave the place.

Right. You know what the distance is from the driveway to the top of there at Tubman Road?

Um I don't off the top of my head. Uh but if we have any kind of a dimension on the plan that can get us in the ballpark. Seems he's put the driveway between the two front plats. 6 700 feet. Not that not that we would propose a drive this close, but I think you know minimum driveway spacing for county standards and DOT standards on lower traffic drives is like 150 ft. So, I don't think that uh driveway spacing is going to be a huge concern. And um site distance in add in addition to the traffic study, site distance would have to be looked at. And it may be that that entrance that we've got shown on the plan moves further east than what we have. But again, this is just conceptual for the zoning purposes at this point.

We have any more questions? Thank you. Thank you. Any other member here would like to speak for this. Any member, state your name and address, please for the record. Marina Berseron, Will Creek Court Evans. Uh Russ, that was a lovely prayer. Always good to see you again. I just have a quick question. You said you would prefer asphalt to gravel. Is that correct? That's correct. So gravel from a storm water absorption perspective would be more porous, better for the surrounding neighborhoods for runoff. What's the county's reason for suggesting asphalt instead?

So that has been the policy for a minute. Uh there has been gravel that has been allowed in the past, but no longer that is the case. So is it aesthetics or Yeah, we could say that. Okay. I was just curious. Is there a way to revisit that policy? love to. Okay, [laughter] I'll give you a call. Thank you. Thank you. Any other member of the audience like to come forward and speak? State your name and um

my name is Boris Sidal and we live off of Bonaventure Way and that intersection North Tubman in Washington gives me the willies all the time. people coming up from uh going westbound towards the lake. There is kind of a blind spot. Um and people do not go 45 or 55. They go very fast and I drive that every morning to Fort Gordon and come back and it's really there's a lot of traffic there. So, I'm I'm thinking now, how the heck are you going to get the boats and all of that to turn right and then to come and it's almost like they need a traffic light at that north tub in Washington. But that's all I got to say. And they got to do something with the lights cuz I used to live off of uh I20 was my backyard and they had those shields. They really don't do much. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other member here tonight would like to speak uh for or against? Can I get a motion? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to disapprove file RZ2513 resoning from RA to S1 property located at 5385 Washington Road. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of the disapproval, raise your right hand. That's disapproved. Next item is H1D text amendments.

Yeah, Mr. Chairman, just real quick, if I could, um just want to clarify a couple things for for the board as well as the folks that are here tonight. Um the board of commissioners asked staff to go ahead and draft up a uh new zoning district uh specifically for data centers. And that's what you'll have here before you in just a moment. um as a new do uh district in the code of ordinances, it would establish the opportunity for properties to be reszoned to this development or this data center uh district should it be approved by the board of commissioners. So just because this is before you tonight does not automatically zone any properties here in the county to this district again should it be approved by the board of commissioners when they get this. Um so there is no map changes to this uh to the county at this time. Um and again any resonings should the um the text amendment be approved by the board of commissioners they would still any property that wishes to be reszoned to the this new district would have to go through the resoning process which is public hearing through the planning commission and then obviously through the board of commissioners. Just as a clarification on this particular request, because it is a text amendment, board of commissioners would read it two times. So there would be two uh two chances to uh hear that would be first and second reading.

Thank you. Thank you, Scott. Yep. So [clears throat] H1D1 uh PA25-11-01 chapter 90 zoning article 3 commercial industrial professional special plan unit development and plan unit and plan development districts um will you have this? I do. It's been fun. There you go. You have it.

The section. So we'll start basically at the top of here is what we're talking about and then we'll kind of work through this. Uh all this stuff works in reduction with each other. Uh so it's one that normally you get text mess that could have multiple pieces to them where you could pass this one and not pass this one. You have to pass the entirety of this for this thing to work. Um it's one of those that has lots of moving parts to it in some respects. It is overall a little more simple than you think. So we'll start with the establishment of section 9- 101 uh DC data center district. Uh normally your your zoning classifications have like your your typical zone classification let's say C2 would have a list of uses. There's you know 25 uses that they could go in C2. What we're doing here is that DC has basically four if we're counting all of them. You have the actual you have data centers R&D facilities and then two different utility classifications. And technically there's a fifth one with a a cell tower as a conditional use. So what this does is establishes, you know, here's what you can do here with 101. Very broad, very it's not really specific. Then also says here's where you go to find out the rest of the rules uh that are with that are with this. One of the things that we did with this district is that 9-147 is our use provisions um piece of the ordinance that has things that are in addition to um with your normal uses. With this one though, we added things like the accessory uses are actually in there. Buffers are in there. Uh we did this a little different way um because we didn't really want to go and change whole sections of the ordinance. We realized, okay, let's put things in 147 that are very specific. Um that's kind of how we did it. It looks a little different though having accessory uses in there. We'll get into 147 in it. Um, but it's a little different way of going about it. Uh, so we'll move on to 997 and we're basically going from the creation of it, then the small changes that we made, and then the big ones 147

9-97 allowed uses. We added DC to the table and also the allowed uses. Uh, it's that straightforward with that change there. Again, it establishes that those districts, it does say on the ordinance, if you look at it, there's many empty boxes. That means you can't do that in DC. And this is a classification that has a handful uses and that is it. It does not allow things like you can't have a a store there, that kind of thing. To move on to section 98, list structure requirements. So, any any zoning classification, you have to have a minimum lot size. So, the reason kind of Oh, let me back up. So the kind of where we took inspiration for the lot sizes and all the setbacks and all that. We're from M2. That's our general industrial that is our most intent zoning classification that's not an S1 [cough] or something. That's kind of where we started with that. So the twoacre minimum lot size on there that is there is there there is a way to do a data center on two acres, but you have to be surrounded by many other things. You can't just go and have a twoacre parcel in the middle of nowhere and make it work. See you why in a moment we start talking about buffers. But again, the minimum lot size of two acres that allows you to have let's let's think about the current one that has been gone through zoning. That's a two that's 2,000 acres of land has multiple buildings on it. If I want to subdivide out a building and sell that building, I need to have a lot size I can use. That's what this does. It gives you a minimum lot says two acres. Now, the other thing that also does it has a there's some some asterisks in there and say if you have things like a pond, a storm water pond, your utilities, again, these are going to have um substations on them. Those don't have to abide by the two acre minimum. It's one of those they could be all kinds of sizes to be honest. Um and that's fairly typical though. We don't have requirements for your pond in in your in your neighborhood. Uh so, it's one that we we have kind of those are kind of carved out. The other thing too, their building setbacks, uh, typically we allow you to reduce your building setback down to three feet. We're adjacent to like C2 to

C2, that kind of thing. We're doing the same thing here. We're next to M2 that that that or M2 and also C3, those those very um more intense zoning classifications. Um, again, kind of gives us different kind of ways to approach that, but it gives you that ability also within your uh your your large campus have different parcels that are side by side. You have that three- foot setback. That's the other thing we're thinking of here as well. Uh your side and rear build building setbacks are 40 feet. Um those are going to get overridden by a buffer if you were let's say adjacent to residential property. Those are there just for certain situations if you need it. Maximum building height again normally is 55 ft. We added 20 ft onto that because we've seen multiple requests for more than 55 ft on commercial properties. They've been okay. Bumped it up to 75 just to kind of take out some extra work potentially. So in terms of buffering again we'll talk about buffering 147. All we did with that is we added DC to the list to the table. Um again nothing is buffering against DC. DC is your basically your most intense classification but we have to add it to the table you know okay if I have a if I'm putting a neighborhood next to it what do I got to do for a buffer? You don't have to do anything. Uh so that's what we did there. All right 147 use provisions. This is kind of the meat of the whole thing. So what this does, it establishes basically the additional requirements. Here are the things if you come and apply for this. Here's all the stuff that you have to abide by to get your zoning to develop these pieces of property. Um it it basically gives you here's your your your rule book for all of this. So again, you establish it with the definitions of it. We have the definition of data center of R&D facilities of a uh substation. Again, fairly fairly typical for most of our use provisions. Then we do we do go into accessory uses. Um these are a little bit different. We have things like daycarees on there. One of the things that we found is these are 24-hour operations. Sometimes the folks who work there might need a daycare, might need a cafeteria, might need a a gym, that kind

of thing. Uh now, the the specific there is that that is only for the people that work there. It's not open to the public. Uh so it's one of those it gives them the ability and the flexibility to have these things. Again, little different way of going about it. Having accessories is built in 147. Also have solar solar energy systems. You can put those on top or on the ground. Those are accessory use. Normally those require resoning. This lets you put them on top of the roof if you want to or out on the site itself. There are some buffering requirements for that. Uh but this is a listed accessory use with this classification. So with sound is another thing that is a potential issue. Uh we have a 70 decel sound at the property line for this. Uh we also require you to do a sound study um for these. uh when you submit for your zone, you're going to give us a sound that says here's what this is right now. Um is it is it less than 70? Great. That sounds that sounds wonderful. You now have less things to do realistically for your project. Now, that doesn't just end at that point. If you go out there, you build your your project and then you come to get your CO, it's you have to go do another sound study, turn all your stuff on and see how loud you actually are. one of those that you're going to have to show that you've you've kept it below 70 for your project and that's again before a CO is issued on a on a building. Um now talking to the guys that build these things uh they're not really concerned about it but at the same time it's one of those it gives an extra layer of we're going to be checking on this as it is constructed. Uh next is generators. Uh we've actually made a change to the generator section. Uh this has been one that we've gone back and forth with internally, externally. Uh can you go to the next slide, please? So currently what we have on there is gen general testing is only allowed between the hours of 9 and 5 for no more than two hours daily on weekdays only and shall occur only on federal holidays. Uh talking about that back and forth

internally, we were very concerned about how to enforce that one that it becomes an enforcement question for us. Um so what we've done again you do have they have to locate away from property like interior of a site can't be within a buffer or building setback these are going to be far away from things as we'll see buffers um the revision that we proposed for y'all to consider this evening to the next slide. So that is that you still have the located away from the adjacent property but this has been simplified quite a bit. uh you have except for generator testing it's limited to backup use again still interior of the site and all that testing uh has to minimize noise vibration etc but there is no you can only test during these hours or during these days that sort of thing so that is the big change that we've made with generators uh currently so moving on to the rest of this well as lighting on the site is discussed uh we've made it very clear you cannot have wellsum on the site itself there's especially on county water lighting again is going to require you to uh shield and direct it away from adjacent property residential or agriculture property and also give us a lot of photoometric aligning plant at site plan review stage. Uh fencing is a little bit higher than normal. Usually we're looking at 8T with two feet on top of that of of wire or what have you. Maximum 12 feet in this case. Um but you know there is no no razor wire allowed on top of it. But again security is important to these. So, it's one of those that making a allowing a little extra in this situation. All right, [clears throat] buffers. This is where uh they get a little interesting. So, with the previous request for the S1, we had a 500 foot buffer around the entire site. So, currently we have a minimum of a 250 foot buffer. Now, along the interstates can be reduced and if you're adjacent to DCM1 or M2 or plan districts that have that,

you don't have to have a buffer. Now you're probably asking a question, how about residential? Well, I guess it's doubled 500 feet at that point. Guess residential uses with 500 feet for residential and then 250. Um, this is all this is along all all sides of the of the property. We're talking about property lines and roads. Now, there are sites that could or potentially could have less than that. Uh, they might work from a context standpoint. But we did have the ability to reduce that in half down to 250 against residential and 125 against other properties and that requires you to BMS. It requires you to give us a study saying here here is how this is not visible uh to adjacent properties. Um but there is the ability to do that. Again BMS can uh do quite a lot to screen uh uses from other adjacent uses. So there is a way to do that. Regarding parking, no established maximum or minimums. Again, these are huge buildings that if you were to apply our code, which is based on square footage, you would have way too much parking. Uh this allows us the ability to say, let's talk about how many people you actually have working here, tailor it to that. Mechanical equipment are to be screened whether it's roof or ground mounted. Again, that's fairly common for the county already. Um also solar energy systems. Uh you know, as an accessory use, they have to be screened on whether on on a roof or on the ground. have been with a 20 foot structural buffer if it's on the ground for adjacent properties. Uh in terms of landscaping, uh we're probably we're going to treat this like we've treated the Amazon site. Again, large site. You were to put the requirements of the the ordinance as as it stands, have quite a lot of landscaping when you didn't really need it. Uh so we're going to be looking at Basil area on that. That has worked out quite well with Amazon. to save large areas of the site and not have not have those removed but also allow there to be enough landscaping internally to function but not be tested as

uh last or not last we also have with substations if they're on the site uh they require them to be screened again that is that's basically the ground mounted side you can't screen stuff up in the air on a substation um also it's very clear in the ordinance that any upgrades required are going to be the responsibility of the applicant not Columbia County. And then we also have two sections that are kind of unique uh from what we've seen across the state. First is we're requiring uh the applicant to give us a letter uh from the utility provider that survives verification they're in good standing with that provider. Uh they're not just doing this on a whim. Essentially, that is the idea of it. It is essentially a will serve letter. um at the end of the day also have a a sa c sessation of operations section that defines if they are they don't operate for basically a year that they'll remove everything and take this thing down to the ground. Um that is something that in our discussions with folks that build these has been a bit of a contentious subject but it's one that we think is important to have within this ordinance. Overall again we do have the change to the the generator section uh that we'd like you all to consider this evening. Um but other than that s's approval questions you have for me

we have any questions is there [clears throat] any member of the audience like to come forward and speak um state your name and u address for the record. Sure. And you're given five minutes please.

Marlina Berseron will creek court. Thank you for this opportunity Mr. Chairman to speak. I'm a member of the Sierra Club, Georgia's Adopt Stream, Georgia Native Plant Society, and a certified master naturalist and master gardener. It is not naive or an exaggeration to say that many of us invested in Columbia County because of the natural beauty, the natural resources, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, and the intermittent preserved parcels of rural landscape. Yes, revenue streams are important for our community's character, integrity, and spirit, and our actual streams, habitat, and watershed health are priceless and renewable if we keep them. The official position of the Sierra Club is that we are not opposed to data centers. What we want are good neighbors. Just like you heard our friend Bill Corder say, Georgia is the fourth largest and fastest growing data center market because of cheap land, power, and water. We have almost 100 data centers already online and in 2024 state filings show 25 more data centers were submitted including White Oak Tech Park. What we don't have yet are any state level regulations. We don't have any success stories from across the nation of data centers voluntarily regulating themselves and offering upfront to pay for their own power and recycle the water they consume. I reviewed the text amendments and I'm here to ask that you pass a more robust local ordinance. We don't want to be in a race to the bottom to degrade our environment. We want you, our appointed officials who are chosen by our elected officials to represent us on good faith so we can focus on our families and lives as we strive to contribute in meaningful ways to the county. We want you to value community over computers. We know data centers are coming, but we can ask them to be good neighbors before they set up shop. There are success stories of citizens uniting to pass

either moratoriums or to implement guard rails to help govern data centers and crypto mining centers. Cities like Lraange, Georgia, and the project Pegasus. Counties like Monroe and Decal who decided protecting people's livelihoods and homesteads with mandatory ordinance was a bigger priority than a booming data center. We need partnerships and objective assessments of risks and rewards. Constituents don't appreciate anyone attempting to force this project through with little public input or notice. We don't appreciate it when folks sincerely voice their concerns, their own research, or politely point out miscalculations because no one is infallible. We're all learning together as this moves at breakneck speeds. But instead of incorporating and collaborating their work, some have been dismissed or bullied or accused of spreading misinformation. The effort to promote public meetings did not not allow enough time to notify residents and no one can read that font on your signs going 45 to 50 miles hour. So what we have here is a failure to communicate. This isn't the first time, but this was the first proposed data center. And now you've started the project. So now we're figuring out the rules. To quote a resident who spoke on Tuesday night's board of commissioners meeting, "This ain't no Parker's kitchen." And now that I'm more informed, I find it a little insulting that a member of the development authority stated that geese flying overhead were louder than the data center noise pollution. Well, many of us love sounds from nature. Again, that's why we live here. Whereas mechanical sounds that hum 24 hours are not only annoying, they can be hazardous to physical and mental health. I appreciate the 70 dB as long as that works with the neighboring residents.

There you go. In the ordinance, there is a minimum 250 wide natural buffer. Will, I appreciate you filling in, but no language is in there currently about a 500t buffer, which is what we would like enforced. Power supply should be paid for by the data center, not passed on to consumers as it has been in other projects. Closed loop cooling systems because the water we have is all we're ever going to get. It must be used and recycled responsibly, especially if we clear out all those shade producing trees who keep water at ground level. The data centers should not get priority for power restoration over households in the event of a mass outage. They are not the same as hospitals. And as a Georgia adopt a stream bond here, I hope we'll have a point of contact either with you or with the data center, if we notice our numbers changing when we test Kyoki Creek that if the data spikes, then we'll have someone to go to to let them know our concerns. We would like Columbia County Landscape Architect to work with conservation groups like the Georgia Native Plant Society on the front and back end to allow for plant and tree rescues, preservation when possible, and after construction for restoration using only native plants whenever possible. Category 1 invasive plants should not be used since they will spread into non-natives. Uh they will spread more easily into what's left of our green spaces. Hurricane Helen took out a third of our old growth canopy. Calling a data center white oak is not the same as preserving and planting white oaks. We deserve to be in the room and nearby residents deserve a seat at the table. We will stick our necks out for each other. We will figure this out together. Course correcting along the way as our understanding evolves. We would like transparent dialogue, partnerships, and robust ordinances that put people first, not computers. We would like to welcome data centers who want to be good neighbors. Thank you.

Thank you.

State your name and address for the record, please. My name is Luis Rodriguez. I live in Evans at Windmill Plantation. Uh just have a couple of questions. I'm not here to u oppose a project or anything, but I'm very curious. How much power does this uh facility require? Uh there's no facility proposed. Take a pardon. There is no facility proposed. To give you an answer,

this is simply a test amendment tonight to consider whether or not to have a standalone zoning district for data centers moving forward. no project attached to this language that's here tonight. Now, there may be something down the road should the commission decide to approve it, but this there's no project attached to this specific language here. Oh, well then I correct it because I thought I had read that it required 1,000 megawatts of electricity. And if that's the case, that would be enough power to service nearly 1 million residents. How, if that's the case, how would that affect our capacity and our reliability within our system? Question number one, hypothetical. Question number two would be a plant of that size is a 1,000 megawws is equivalent to um a large power plant. Whether it be fossil fuel or nuclear, it doesn't matter. It's a very large facility which requires an enormous amount of water for the condensers to condense the steam back to water after they've done their work with the turbines. Where's that water? Where does it come from and how does that affect our water supply? Those are my two questions. And if you decide to move forward, I would assume that this requires an envi environmental impact statement, which would be I would think in the state of Georgia. I don't know. I'm from New York, but that would be the normal process. And then it would be um there's a public

review period for comments and um so there's still a lot of work to be done, not a done deal, I guess, right? Thank you. An ordinance. [clears throat]

Again, I'd like to uh I'd like to say uh this is just a text amendment. It it is a creation of an ordinance specific to data centers. That's all this is is a text amendment to the creation If there's anyone else here would like to come forward and speak, state your name and address for the record. Alan Wyatt, 2189 Morris Callaway Road in Appling. I'm going to [snorts] be a neighbor to a data center that's playing. So, uh, we had a little bit of discussion about noise. Uh guess before we get there though uh uh I have to take umbrage and I think Mr. Butler said introduced it and he said Bill I think you've got this one. I said yeah it's been a lot of fun. It ain't fun for me. None of this is fun for me. I am retired. I've been retired a long time. I was living my retirement dream and this mess it up big time. So you guys may be having fun putting this together but it's no fun challenging it. Okay guys, understand that. Okay, noise limit 70 dibels. Where did that come from? Let me explain where it came from. That is the hearing protection limit so that you don't get hearing damage. I will measure every night. I've been measuring the t the sound and the morning and the afternoon and we're averaging right now on my property 35 dibels at the property line. Okay. 70 is 70 dibels is 3,000 times greater than 35 dibel. Uh so understand when you say 75 70 dibels that is nowhere near close and nowhere near good enough. Secondly on the generator testing. Okay. Does the 70 dibels include the

generator testing? Uh yes it does. Thank you. And then on enforcement, you mentioned that uh you were going to test it before uh before they start the plant up and occupy, but after that, how about testing after that? Any standards for that? You're always going to have the requirement for the 70 dB. Always there.

Oh, I'm talking about testing because test and occupy and then all hell breaks loose later. So, what are we going to do to ensure that the 70 or lower? Because it should be lower. What I'm suggesting is you should plan for the residents that live on Morris Callaway Road for no noise increase as a result of a data center a few thousand ft away. That's what we're asking. I don't care about a 70 del limit at some point in their on their property. What I care about is what I can hear from my property. Should be no louder than it is. That should be the standard surely for a residential area. That should be the because remember we moved out to appling the peace and quiet. That's why we moved there. That was the one of the predominant features of being able to does it cover construction noise. That's not noted in there. Now you still have the requirements for your the noise ordinance itself which is not that strong to be blunt about it. So that's still there. So,

but it but so this doesn't cover construction noise. They'll have the noise ordinance which does cover construction noise. And what what is that? What is the noise ordinance for construction? Basically, if it's too loud and you get a couple people to agree to it.

So, so are are you are you folks aware that uh the development authority have already stated that this is a 15 to 20 year construction project? Are you aware of that? So for 15 to 20 years we're going to have construction noise coming from the site that is going to be only if we complain about it ordinance that gentlemen ladies is ridiculous. Next thing about noise. Okay. Usually in this part of the world, sometime around the morning, sometime around the evening, there's a temperature inversion. What happens then? Even today, we can hear I20 on Morris Callaway Road. It's a mile 1.5 miles away. But because of temperature inversions and the sound bouncing off the atmosphere, we can hear traffic on I20. I've measured it. It bumps the 35 up to about 55 56 on average when we get that temperature increase. Okay. If you remove all the trees that are going to be removed, data center that's coming to White Oak Park as an example, that noise is going to be propagated even more than it is and it will ex probably exceed that 70 because traffic noise off of I20 is very so it should also any ordinance should consider highway traffic noise propagation as a result of the trees being removed but in the data That just makes common sense on the light pollution. Uh while light uh lighting must be full cut off and directed away from the residential properties, why are there no specific foot candle limits at property lines and requirements for dark sky compliant fixtures to prevent sky glow in areas currently where there's no artificial light, which is basically the entire White Oak Park except for the northern

southern part of it around the Amazon complex. That's what we should be looking for. that my limit. That's your almond. Thank you. Thank you.

Please state your name and uh address for the record. Please, you have five minutes.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Vin Mueller. I live on Pecan Road in Appling. Um, Alan and I were at a meeting with Commissioners Couch and Carowway about two months ago where we discussed some of these things and it was not in quorum. So there are no recordings to stating, but Commissioner Carowway told us at that meeting that the data center that is proposed, not really a done deal yet, so would follow international dark sky standards for all lighting, would be no greater than 70 dB at the building envelope, not the property law. So, I feel for Allan when he has a 34 to 35 decel ambient sound rating at his home and you're proposing to make it let it be 70. That's tremendous. Low frequency noise is blasted near impossible to stop. That's what gives you headaches. They will have to deal with that. They're right next to it. I appreciate the clarification that this does not um require any changes to any current zoning, but I ask what will be done for the 2,000 acre White Oak Technical Park property. It was pushed through as an S1 quickly with no public comment, no public input. I was the only well there were two one other gentleman that spoke at that meeting to question it and will clarify the water value for me but that you we have no legal grounds to hold them to any of this unless EDAC and the board of commissioners and you working in concert as was done to get that S1 zoning run this back through and make that property a DC. There is no other way

that you have anything to hold them to. The contract with Traml Crow says that they have all mineral, land, and water rights for that property that allows them to build wells. You can't do a damn thing about it. It's not a county permit. It is a Georgia state EPD permit. It's not your business. And they'll tell you that. Will, I appreciate the work you put into this. it. I know it was a lot of work and I recognize although Allan took it a little differently. You were being facitious about it being fun. The uh section 9098 list of lot and structures says that the minimum setback for a building face in section 98 is 125 ft but the building buffer is 500 ft. So does that mean that the face of the building is 125 ft further to the interior? A buffer always overrides a sub.

Okay. More restrictive.

I just I don't deal with these all the time. I need to clarify. Um I have to also on the sound add to what Allan was saying. When will that sound be measured? As he was saying, you have temperature inversions. You also have seasonal changes. When the vegetation comes off of you, appreciate and the air is cold. That sound is going to go flying through there like you wouldn't believe. There won't be anything you can do. So, if you're going to plan on taking your CO test measurements on a February morning where it's 30° out, I'm okay with that. Otherwise, it's baloney. Um, there are no references anywhere in this proposal for storm water runoff or wastewater control. Those are going to be two critical things when this area is stripped of all of the trees and the grasses and there are roadways and gravel lots and huge building expanses of roof. There's going to be a lot of water flowing down those creeks. It's going to wipe those creeks out. It's going to wreak havoc in the windmill plantation area. As you just saw with Helen, the uh the generators, the the power generation versus substation is something I am concerned about. Georgia Power doesn't have the power to support this thing at 1.2 gawatts. Going forward, they're going to build Where are they going to put it? They're buying up property all around this wonderful thing that you guys have proposed on us. And I I'm saying you guys because unfortunately all painted with brush being part of this county

move. Will they have power generation required to meet a 70 decel standard or will that pour out like crazy when the generators are in use? Will they be allowed to call a Georgia power curtailment an emergency or a backup plan? They then kick on all the generators on the site. Thank you. Thank you. State your state your state your name and address.

I'm sorry. Dwey Kerry 3118 Doa Road, Apple, Georgia. And I've been living on that road 47 years. my wife 67 years. We love Columbia County. We always have. We think we're a gold standard all the way around. For the most part, we have done the right thing for the communities. All we want in Appan is for this body to understand and the commissioners to understand we want things that complement our community, not harm our community. I was on the first growth management plan ever written for Columbia County. It's the foundation of the vision of the community of people like me, business people, teachers, board members, and our plan was totally ignored for this purpose. I can't understand it because we've been going by this plan. We've been refurbishing the plan. Scott, I was in at Grovetown. There were six of us. I brought three of them to continue to look at what's happening to Columbia County to give our input. I appreciate that. But when you don't take our input seriously and ignore it, there's something wrong. You have been presented something that has totally been misrepresented. Now I don't have time to speak on uh proposed policies but

the decibel reading could be no higher than 50. That's comfortable sleeping. Okay. I learn things. I study things. But then I don't appreciate a commission that I trusted that call out our members and me because I spoke against this monstrosity and call us liars and call us tacos or whatever it was. Come on, man. Give us some respect. I taught in Columbia County almost 20 years. My wife did, too. My kids live here. My grandkids live here. And I'm, if you don't mind, I'm going to send you proposed policies of different counties. One in in Virginia is a thousand foot setback from residential. And I I I expect that you do do the uh the international building codes that you use and you look at the water temperature when it's released that it's not over 41 degrees so it doesn't go into our streams and kill our fish and all that. There's so many factors here. So when we have a pro a a policy or provisional thing that comes to you, it needs not to be generic. It needs to be custommade to make sure that we're not breathing contaminated air. And my grandkids are dream breathing contaminated year air at Harlem Middle School and 10 years later they got cancer. This is serious stuff people. We don't want to be drinking glycol out of our water. We don't want to have groundwater recharge submerge in other areas of the county because we c we're not even controlling

it in some places in Columbia County. Now look at Atlanta and what's happened to Atlanta. I never wanted to be a Gwynette County or a Cobb County. That's what we're turning into. We care about this and not this. We should care about our people and our community. what fits our community. Read the 2035 plan. INFORM THEM WHAT people are saying they want in this county. And the go-to place to move to has been Applin. I'm compassionate because I trusted the people that the commissioners put in charge. Mr. Kato, you do our side. Who's a uh district three?

Me.

You do. Mr. Holloway, you do our side. Both my family split. You know, [sighs] I do appreciate all the hard work. Will's a great guy. We We disagree about some things. Y'all do a wonderful job, but this thing has got to slow down. We have got to be sure. We don't need to be in a race to do something like this. It's a bubble. It's going to explode. Thank you for your time. I'm going to send you some policies across the nation and the only question I ask will and the commission then I'll end. What makes this data center in Columbia County that's possibly coming to Columbia County? It seems like it's coming. What makes it different from the others that are wreaking havoc on other communities across the nation? The [applause] people are upset ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE NATION. BUT I'M BEING told I'm an idiot. You're a liar by my county commission with their rebuttal and I don't appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. State your name and uh address for the record, please.

Sharon Dancler Campbell. Um 2338 Lauren Street in Grovetown. Mr. Will I appreciate the specifications that you gave on the buildings and you know the bells and whistles far as the the um like daycare centers for those who will be working in. Good evening to this um to the to the um the committee. And I think um this is so new and I'm I'm new and I'm learning this and I saw it on TV and I said I got to go. But this thing is so new for us and we're still trying to learn it and I'm sure we don't know all the ramifications. this is just starting because there's going to be years to come. We don't know what's coming and you know on the different community and the young lady they've all said things far as the water you know there's water that's in that's going to be um a part of this there's going to be the electric electronic waste and all the consumption. Did they make any any plans for anything that may happen far as any waste that's going to be you know have to get rid of down the road? So you're talking about like from the building like the

from from the data center that the whole data center anything that needs to be replaced or anything. Have they put provisions in place for all that? So I mean the thing to think about is that there are still state requirements in place for storm water runoff that sort of thing there. We're not going to be more specific than that and all that. Okay. And are there that's not part of this. Yes sir. They're very clearly okay.

Let's follow federal state and local requirements for environ environmental regulations. Okay. And there I'm sure there going to be all kind of emissions that are coming, but we're trying to see as a as a community person, we want to know who's benefiting from that. Who's going to pay that high cost? Like the young lady said, who's going to pay the high cost? Cuz even we deal with in the summertime, we can't even run our water and water our grass as we want to. So when the data pulls all the data centers pull all this water, who's going to suffer? are they going to be able to run the water and we're still going to be punished but they can use all the water consumption that they want to because we do run into that in the summertime and we do move in I live in Columbia County. I just bought a beautiful home and I moved to Columbia County for the reason that everybody else wants to live. You move out there and it's a big veteran community and we're talking about decibb and we're talking about noise and lighting. You have a lot of veterans that are going to go cuckoo because it's just like so much. They're going to have to contend with the noise. They're going to have to contend with the sound. They're going to have to contend with the lights. And you know how a lot of the veterans, they suffer from PTSD. That's going to affect that big community. And it's and I don't know what's happened. I don't and it's going to bring I don't know how the property is going to go because we move out there and what if a a data center comes into our area and people see the beautiful homes but they don't want to live in that community and we can't take for granted that most of Columbia County like Evans and Martinez you can drive through any neighborhood and those neighborhoods beautiful homes and we can't take for granted that people you know we're not going to miss those few dollars each month from the water consumption or the few dollars if our um light bills get raised up. But when you go further out into the poorer communities, who's going to speak for them? This is a bad time to even be talking about this with what's going on with our government. People can't afford to pay anything extra when they can't

even afford to buy food and and do gas and pay their bills right now. And we need you guys to stand up for us. You know, you are elected to speak up for us. It's not we cannot stop change. We cannot stop progress. That's not what we're saying. We don't know enough about this. Like the gentleman said, can we slow it down a little bit and see what happens? Because, you know, the the prayer was beautiful. And I'm sure everybody is pretty much faith-based here, but in Genesis, Satan started as a serpent. When you get to Revelation is a whole dragon. How much do we need? How much do we have to feed into this? How much of the consumption do we need? How much power do we need? how much do we need? And it's just it's it's so much going on. And we, you know, the tech companies and with um Amazon and all of them, are they going to pay into the building the the lights, the water consumption? Like they said, you can't you can't get that water back. Are they going to pay their fair share? They're going to be on the citizens. And we just want to know because we don't know. This thing is so new to us and we're just trying to figure out what's going on. And it's just that's pretty much what I have to say. But we just want you all to listen to us. And it's not about, you know, we we see the money, the money piece, the money piece is going to bring jobs. It's going to bring all these great things, but that doesn't matter. We move out in this area for a particular reason for our families. Sometimes we got to let that money thing go. We got to let it go because we got people, we got lives at stake. And which is more important? Thank you. I appreciate it. [applause]

State your name and uh address for the record, please.

Susan Warren, 5129 North Tubman Appling. And um I'd like to expand a little bit on what Will said about generators. Uh he said that the generators wouldn't exceed 70 dB, but everything I've read states that generators can run between 90 and 100 dB when they're running. Now, is everything [clears throat] that's out there about this a lie or have y'all not really read any of this material? Okay. The other thing about sound is that uh what Marina was talking about about how it can harm people and things. the 70 del hum. And that's the one that goes 247, seven days a week. And uh it can be heard up to a half a mile away and create sleep disturbance and anxiety. And a steady 52 decibel can cause birds to leave their nests, insects to stop mating calls, and mammals to show signs of stress and avoid their natural habitats. I already see that now with um the animals that that used to be around here that are no longer here because there's so much uh noise and uh construction. So that concerns me. Another thing that concerns me is the 2 acre. You say um those

should be two minimum two acre. Then you say lots used for utility facilities such as substations, lift stations and similar may reduce the size of the lot as approved by the planning services division director or their designate during the site plan review progress process. Where adjacent to other property do zone DC, the side and rear setbacks may be reduced to three feet along those shared property lines. If a buffer is larger than a property setback, the buffer shall take precedence. So you're saying that if land purchased right next to a data center lot for this could be less than two acres and the setbacks could be reduced to three feet with the data center lot. You know two acres actually I looked it up. It's if it's squared it's 218t by 218 ft. Or if you go length time width, it's 132 feet by320t. So if I'm figuring what's happening here, you're saying that someone's home could s conceivably be 132 feet plus the setback from the data center. And you know what? The county forced me to buy 2 and 12 acres to build my 1850 square foot home. What the heck? You know, [clears throat] two acres and I had to buy two and a half acres to put 1850 square foot house on it. That's that's not right. So, thank you.

Thank you,

Blaine Carter. I live at 861 Dearwood Circle. So, just make sure I understand what's happening here. This is just to reward the existing ordinances and some changes to that. What we're doing, what we're doing, we're we're creating a a data center district uh 90-101 DC data center district, right? Ordinance.

And so Mr. Will here just said all of the parameters about that. So my question is, who's going to enforce what you propose? So, say they failed the sound test before getting a CO. Who's going to enforce that? So, these people are going to I'm sorry for button in. These people are going to come in. They're going to spend many millions of dollars building this facility and sound is going to disallow them to move in. Yeah,

I disagree. I disagree because on Evans Tillac Road um a house was built, walls were built around that house, a gate was put up in front with a sign that said he he had permission to do so, but the zoning and all of the variances and all the requirements to build a fence on the front, all that, they disregarded that. came before the commission. The commission said they had to tear the walls down right a couple weeks after that meeting where everybody was all up in arms. The neighbors uh the walls are still there. The uh nothing's been torn down. They simply told him he couldn't close his gates.

Right. You're referring to Mr. Patel. I don't know the guy's name. That is still that is still in a court case. Well, not completely.

I get it. But he's got here here's my point. My point is simple. All of these zoning things are um being put in place currently so that the county can have a data center that the commission says there is no data center yet. That they're going to do all these things. They give us a list of things they're going to do and um they have no right to enforce those or even implement the tax amendment that they claim because I've asked them about and so because that's done on a state level, not a county level. And so I guess I'm just trying to figure out who in the county is going to tell a multi-million dollar investor that's already built a building with a property that y'all are going to say they can have a a daycare, but the end result's only going to have about 20 people working there. Who's going to need a daycare? And so that means that they can subdivide the property and sell these lots that are closer to these people's homes and build things based on these new zoning amendments. And so it just seems to me that these are kind of bogus. And so I just um I'm concerned that if you guys pass this tonight and approve it, that this will open the door for more people getting all up in arms over the fact that we're not being told the truth. And it's our tax dollars that bought the land in the first place. [applause] You know, the pards own the land. Another guy buys the land for $9

million. [clears throat] Within a a year, within one year, the Columbia County Development Authority paid 28 approximate million dollars for that land with no improvements. That's our money. They borrowed the money from Queensboro and another bank. So, our tax dollars are footing the bill for something that is proposed that is coming apparently and this is all just the groundwork to make it happen and it's just not enforcable from my perspective because if you can't stop a guy on Evans Delot Road from building walls and putting his property over onto the Westlake golf course, he exceeded his property I think the home is beautiful on the back. I'm not It's It's not my style, but I could say, "Yeah, I could appreciate the property." But this has taken 2,000 acres. It's not a lot on the golf course. Thank you. [applause]

Jonathan Mus 1357 Drive, Evans, Georgia. I'll just be a quick minute. I just took some notes during while we were talking, but I think this is a great opportunity for a strategic pause for the county. Um, real quick on the noise level. You could look at my VA rating if you want to. 70 continuous decibb will wreak havoc on you. Um, I did have a question for Will on the height. Was 75 foot height um with with what we're talking about tonight. Mentioned cell towers. This potential could go on this on these lots. Is that true statement? So it would still be a conditional use. So yeah, a cell tower just like any property could have a cell tower.

Now with those those heights would not be the 75. That'd be a totally different. So to offset their costs for their what they're paying, they could they could lease land to uh Verizon or AT&T for cell towers. Yeah, they're the same as anybody who owns property. No, just that's fine. I just we haven't talked about it, so I just want to make sure I understood. Um, and two acres is for a computer room, not a data center. That's way too small. I've been doing data centers for 30 years, and that's that's ridiculous. Um, does this ordinance uh for either White Oak or Future deal with the water, the closed loops kind of talked about? It doesn't mention that at all. Right. Anything on how they cool?

Okay. It's just land only, right? Okay. So, I'll table that for the next time. Um, and like I said on Tuesday, you know, this is a great time. Take a pause and don't let revenue cloud our judgment here. We have time. Time's on our side. Don't rush it. We're not ready for this. We're just not. Northern Virginia has been doing this since 2008 and they're still not ready for it. They screwed it up. Let's get it right. If we're going to do it, let's get it right. That's all I'm saying. Take your time. Don't rush it.

Thank you. [applause] Hello, Deanna Coleman, 6821 Peon Road, Apple Appling. Um, I wear a hearing aid and at 90 dB it says I can cause definite uh trauma after 30 minutes to my hearing. And at 70 dB, let's just say constantly, uh, I'm sure that with you extracting and everything, it can definitely cause more damage to my hearing than I already have. Plus, I want to mention my um, autistic daughter who could probably hear the buzzing in those lights. What do you think that's going to do to her? That's all I got to say. Thank you,

Sylvia Elum in Oak Road. Um, I'm too going to address the decel amount. I'm a beekeeper and 70 dB can really wreak havoc on my hives. 60 can stress them out. So, it's not easy being a beekeeper because you have mites and you have all this other stuff that can attack them and other bees and ants and a ton of stuff. And to have the bees die and just become disoriented, not be able to brood, not be able to do anything affecting in that area. It's a rural area. People have gardens, people have farms, and they need the bees. So, please, as a beekeeper, consider lowering that decel to keep our bees alive. Thank you.

Thank you. [applause]

Tori Knox 5496 White Oak Road. Uh, so I got a few notes here. Um, so on section 9097, uh, Will pointed out page five. Well, yeah, page five, data centers and research development. Uh, just wanted to also draw your attention to page two. Um, so on page two, all major utilities except for as listed below, telecommunication tower and all minor utilities. Um, there was this is marked for major utilities will be allowed use. uh unlike all other major utilities are under conditional use. So I don't know what the thought was behind that decision. Um but this does limit the review or approval by the board that represents the citizens. Just wanted to point that out. Uh any comments on the decision behind that?

Yeah, so a substation is a major utility for instance. um they're going to likely have those on a site. Um so that's why it's an allowed use. Now subsections been further discussed in 147 requiring um buffering etc. That that that was why that that was made to allow for those sorts of things to occur on hopefully larger projects. Um I also wanted to talk on um here 9047. Uh this is in regards to the generators. Uh it states in section B except for generator testing maintenance or commission. I think this has been slightly revised. Uh generator is you is limited to backup and emergency use only. Is that emergency use just for the data center or would that also be to feed back the grid?

We haven't specified. I mean, I would say it would be for emergency. Emergency use implies for the data center, but it's not specified. I'll say that.

Okay. I think it's worth specifying if that is the intent. Uh I'm against the reduc reduction on the buffer. Uh uh I mean 500 foot uh you know 300 foot's a football field, right? Um 500 foot's a little bit more than a football field. You're going shorter. Not very good. Um but I I do like the uh you know restriction on visibility. So anywhere on the hill in the back of our property um which is adjacent to this property uh would be out of line of sight of the buildings. Is that correct?

So yes, but again I will always say to people whenever that question is asked there is likely going to be somewhere I can stand to see something even if you try to hide it. So I'm not going to tell you it's going to be entirely vis invisible. That is the intent is for it to be not noticeable to you. Uh and it says here for uh I guess it say substations the substations will not be visible from our property. That that's correct.

That was the intent. And uh so so uh how does this buffer apply for when there's an easement? Uh say there's just that road right there. Um does this apply to that buffer too or will they be using uh that as an access road and lightening it up? Um I I know this is that's more

that's a very specific and context question. I mean, it's one that's kind of going to depend. I can't say, yeah, it's going to be lit up or used or anything like that. I mean, it does allow you allow you to have access AC through the buffer essentially. So, it's one that you could have access through a buffer, but the intent is not to have a hole 50 ft wide that's part of the buffer, but not that is not what we want to see with that. Thank you for the clarity. I appreciate your time.

Thank you. Thank you. MICHAEL HARRISON, 5815 or 501 Whispering Pines Way. Uh I'm relatively new to the area. We moved here within the last year. A lot of passionate people here, very deeply invested in our community and it really moves me to see it. Uh I'm an engineer by trade or by training. I just had a couple tech more technical questions to see if they've been thought out and concerned with this. You're raising the height of these buildings permitted to 75 ft without them needing to get any additional approval for that much higher than normally allowed. Then you're saying that you can reduce the setback because you're putting a burm in place or barrier. Have you accounted for that extra height and how much that extra height could make that propagate?

Yes. And then the other question I have, um, a lot of concerns about noise pollution. What would be the decibel limiting if somebody was to be putting a daycare next to another industrial site or an industrial site next to a daycare? You hear you're having one in the middle of it. Sure. So, as far as I know, we don't have a there's nothing in our code that says here's what the decimal limit is for that kind of use. This is the first time we put it in there. Okay. Seems to be a pretty big concern. And what consider what you'd do for a school or anywhere else with that. That's going to be a major issue.

Thank you. [applause] Any other member of the audience would like to speak, please uh step forward, state your name and address for the record. caller. I live at 6849 Pecan Road. I was not prepared to speak. Going to try and stay focused. Um, I want to clarify that this project know for a fact because I've done some research was started in early 2024 under the project name of Green Jacket. All under NDAs. For two years, this county had the opportunity to try and put together this new ordinance. And you wait till after Raml Crow has signed this contract for 2,000 acres to come up with an ordinance that is for future data centers. Correct me if I'm wrong. This ordinance that you're proposing modifications to is only for future data centers and will not be for the Tramoc Crow. That's what I'm reading. Yes. No,

that's correct. Yeah, that is correct. So, Traml Crow is going to be able to build this under the S1, not under these new guidelines. Correct. [laughter]

So, that's what I wanted to get clear because everybody needs to know. We're worried about the decibb. We're worried about this. It does not apply to the 2,000 acres. This is where the county did not do its due diligence. It did not look out for its citizens. And time and time again, when we've asked, "Please stop. Please don't do this." The response has been, "Well, we might get sued or we might lose some money." That's a crime of shame. You never allowed the citizens who pay these taxes to have any voice in this. And now you're coming back and say, "Uh, well, we kind of screwed up. We need to have an ordinance for future data center. That's a cry and shame. And not just you guys, the commissioners, EDA, everybody. Shame on them.

Shame on them. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Do I know any other member of the is it? They're not telling you the truth. We This came to us what? May we found out about anything with center which none of this has anything to do with it? But yeah, a question. What was the question? You have a question? I have no question.

My name is David Daniel. I live on 6167. Gentlemen, I grew up listening to all what you my father was a county treasurer in Richmond County. Well, I listened to this all my whole life. Reason I never went into it. And this embarrass the fact that you've embarrassed these people out here is beyond me. That you've done all this without one their approval and their consent. This is going to have major conflict to their property values. when you start having noise pollution, light pollution, heaven forbid they get any of those chemicals in the ground, just like our neighbors. You know, we sold our soul to the devil 80 years ago. Why we have cancer going out of sight in this community, you know? I mean, it and we all know that now. We we know what we did 80 years ago. and they're digging it up and putting melting it down and putting in glass boxes and shipping it to Arizona as fast as they can get it there. We know what we did. We did for the good of the country, but now we're paying the price for it when they find plutonium 323 down there in a well in Burke County. So, I know all about it. But it really broke my heart that you that y'all weren't more forthcoming. I I I just don't understand that. Know everybody talks about Richmond County, the worst leadership in Georgia. All them so and so over there, they're terrible. I mean, I just I don't understand it. Y'all are highly educated people.

You'd be of great character. I I just don't get Thank you. Thank you.

Come forward. State your name and address for the record, please.

Uh my name is uh sorry, my name is Aaron Bill. Uh 712 Main Street, Sweet 300, Houston, Texas, uh 770. Um I am here actually in support of the uh zoning amendment proposed. Uh I will state for the record that I've had zero involvement in the White Oak business park um uh project to date and tend to have any pro um involvement with that going forward. Uh I do work for a firm that develops uh data centers. Um and so we are only interested in owning amendment as it relates to going forward. Um I've developed data centers in over 40 countries. And I think what you're putting forward and the way you're approaching this again going forward um really kind of represents the best practices in terms of putting zoning in place to be able to regulate so that everybody's on a level playing field as um additional parcels and properties are considered uh for future-looking data centers. Um data centers do represent a significant uh economic development opportunity for the county. Uh there are a lot of negative perceptions of data centers and those are all rooted in truth, right? The uh water consumption that historically has been a problem. Um that is a reality for many communities. Noise concerns um those are largely born out of Northern Virginia where data centers are pressed right up against residential neighborhoods. Um I think the the citizens expressing their concerns over a lot of those things um their their their right to do so. And I think your what you're proposing here um really is um addressing a lot of those concerns. Uh modern data centers um are being designed and um are being built to a different standard than what has historically been done and technology have come up. So I think that um through

the outreach and communication with the community and through the modern designs, I think a lot of the citizens uh concerns really will be mitigated um over time. Uh it will take a lot of work and it will take a lot of uh community outreach and partnering and other uh personally at um Cloverleaf uh which is a [snorts] company I work for um there are uh a couple of things that we do differently in our data centers that I think align with some of the community's goals. Uh we do advocate for closed loop systems not utilizing any cooling for water. Uh we really only use cooling water in our data centers for bathrooms and toilets and showers. So our water consumption is more similar to um you know small office buildings because that's kind of what kind of what really there is you know with a few hundred employees at the facilities. Uh we all also are fans of the dark sky limitations. One of the citizens referenced those and we are we are big fans of those. So um if we elect to move forward with um coming to this board and then ultimately for data centers those will be the types of things that we will um be committed projects that we bring forward. Um again I believe all data centers moving forward should be under the standards that um that are being implemented here. Um there are some specific components that are challenging. I don't agree with everything that's in them. Um, and I know I I agree with the uh some of the the comments have been made. Um, a 500 foot setback is a is fairly large setback. So, I think we'll agree to disagree, but well, you know, I think we can we can get there on something that is workable for modern and future data centers um going forward. Um, but overall um you know, we support um uh the uh addition of the zoning to the code and promote the uh responsible um development of data centers going forward. and I look forward to working with uh with this board and ultimately the county board and any future proposed

projects. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much.

My name is Amy C. How are y'all? Well, I'm Amy. I told him I would introduce myself. I didn't come here for the data center tonight. I came for something that else that y'all had actually denied and I feel like I've kind of been a neutral party. Um people have asked me if I care about the data center or not. And honestly, I've just kind of been like it doesn't matter. It's either yes or no. It doesn't really matter to me. But sitting here tonight without an opinion and not planning to speak when I probably should have been speaking on what you denied for me, but I didn't. And when I get up here and I listen to all of these people complaining and all of these people have true legitimate concerns that I do hope that each one of you do reconsider and consider what the citizens of Columbia County are desiring. And so I don't really So I didn't come to say yes, I want this or no, I don't. But I have a room full of people behind me that they're not happy with this. And I hope each one of you consider what these people behind us have said tonight. There's been one person that came up and said that they are four things and they're from Texas and they're work at a firm. So anyways, I didn't feel like I had a dog like really had a bone in the fight, whatever they say. But I just couldn't just sit there and think these are the people of Columbia County and this is what they are desiring. These are true concerns. I live in Appling and maybe I should have reconsidered and really thought what's coming to my to my area a little bit more. And I regret that I haven't been more educated. And so I just say that you need to consider what these people are saying tonight and

not just pass something because maybe it puts more money in pockets here or there or maybe it's a different agenda that I have no idea. But I just hope that whatever it is that their voices our voices are heard because that's why you sit there. Thank you. [applause] Okay. I think we are uh finished with the public participation part of this. Do we have any um comments? Can I get a motion?

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve file TA25101 ordinance established in the DC data center district with changes in regard generators. Second. I got a a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries.

We have no legal matters tonight. I do not see attorney Driver. Any uh staff or commissioner comments to make comments? Can I get a motion for adjournment? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we adjourn. Second. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor raise your right hand. We are ajourned.