No new data center applications will be accepted on unincorporated DeKalb County land, including Perimeter corridor parcels near Dunwoody and Brookhaven, until at least March 30, 2027.

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted 6-1 on Thursday, July 30, to extend the county's data center moratorium, giving officials until that deadline to write enforceable zoning rules for the facilities.

Commissioner Ted Terry cast the lone dissenting vote.

Terry's objection was not about the moratorium itself. He wanted an independent third party to conduct environmental and health studies on data centers rather than the DeKalb CEO's office, which the majority backed.

"For the entire nine months, the community has said, 'We want an independent third party…an objective source to do an environmental and health study,'" Terry said in a WABE interview on Thursday, July 30.

The moratorium process has stretched over roughly a year, involving nine public hearings and four revisions, according to Terry. DeKalb currently has only two small legacy data centers, which Terry described as BellSouth-era facilities. No new applications are being accepted.

Terry raised climate concerns, noting that data centers in Georgia draw power primarily from Georgia Power or electric membership cooperatives, which he described as "mostly fossil-fuel powered."

District 3 at stake

District 3 Commissioner Nicole Massiah, whose territory includes land attractive to data center developers, voted with the majority. In a July 23 interview with 11Alive, she said: "There's a need for data centers in certain locations, just not in the backyard of District 3. There are so many unknowns around energy use, water use, pollution, sound."

The extension follows a turbulent June. On Tuesday, June 23, the commission unanimously killed a proposed zoning ordinance that would have restricted data centers to industrial areas, required special land-use permits, capped campuses at 1 million square feet of disturbed land, and mandated a 750-foot buffer from residential properties. That rejection left the county with zero enforceable rules governing where data centers can be built.

As we reported July 23, the board had extended the moratorium through September while it debated next steps. Thursday's vote pushes the deadline six months further.

What's next

Terry's resolution calling for an independent environmental study was previously scheduled for the Planning, Economic Development and Community Services committee on Tuesday, August 11, and the full board on Friday, August 28. Whether those dates still hold after Thursday's vote has not been confirmed by the county.

The moratorium expires at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30, 2027. If commissioners fail to adopt zoning regulations by then, the county would again have no rules blocking data center applications on unincorporated land near Dunwoody and Brookhaven.