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Annexation for data center in Social Circle gets 3-2 approval
David Keener
Social Circle Mayor David Keener cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the annexation. File Photo. - photo by Special Photo

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. – The Social Circle City Council has narrowly approved an annexation request that will clear the way for a massive digital data center to come to acreage on Amber Stapp Studdard Road at Social Circle Parkway.

Data centers, which are proliferating in Georgia, house equipment for large-scale storage, processing and distribution of digital data. Meta, formerly Facebook, currently operates a large data center just a few miles from Social Circle, in the Stanton Springs industrial park off Interstate 20.

The annexation request, covering more than 200 acres, was approved at the city council’s Jan. 22 meeting when Mayor David Keener cast a tie-breaking vote after the council deadlocked 2-2 on the issue. Voting in favor of the annexation were Councilwoman Traysa Price and Councilman Steve Shelton, with Councilmen Tyson Jackson and Nathan Boyd voting against the move.

Keener offered no comment as he cast his vote, other than noting that he was taking the action to break the council deadlock.

The council did, however, reach unanimity on three other Jan. 22 votes associated with the effort by Sailfish Investors, a Florida-based enterprise that describes itself as a real estate investment and operating platform for the acquisition, development, and operation of data center and other properties throughout the southeastern and southwestern United States.

Earning unanimous approval from the city council were changes to the city’s future land use map, a rezoning to a light industrial classification and an associated special-use designation needed for the planned data center, which is slated to comprise four buildings totaling nearly 1.8 million square feet.

Approval of the rezoning came with a condition, however, requiring that the light industrial zoning classification revert to the prior agricultural classification if the date center is not built.

Ryan Hughes, managing partner for Sailfish Investors, told the council prior to their series of votes that the data center is envisioned as a “build-to-suit” project aimed at the needs of a single “hyperscaler” -- a large data company such as Google, Open AI, Microsoft or Amazon Web Services. The hyperscaler that could eventually occupy the data center would sign a lease with Sailfish Investors, Hughes explained.

But Hughes also indicated that an interested hyperscaler could buy the digital campus outright. In that case, he told the council and a group of interested citizens gathered for the meeting, the hyperscaler would have to abide by the same rules and regulations governing Sailfish Investors’ presence in the city.

A major reason for Sailfish Investors seeking the annexation into Social Circle is the availability of water and sewer service from the city, Hughes said. Those utilities are slated for significant upgrades in the coming years, on the strength of a multimillion-dollar bond issue recently approved by the city council. In association with the bond issue, the city council recently approved increases in the city’s utility rates.

On a somewhat related note, and as pointed out by Hughes at the council meeting, having the data center on the newly annexed acreage will boost property tax collections in the city significantly.

One issue that remains unresolved for the Sailfish Investors project in Social Circle is the exact source of electricity for the planned data center. The acreage addressed by the council includes a massive power line, but exactly which electric utility will serve the planned facility, and whether they can provide adequate power for it, are not yet resolved, Hughes indicated.

In approving the annexation, the council countered the Social Circle Planning Commission, which had recommended that the council reject the annexation and the other associated actions. The city’s planning staff had recommended approval of the annexation and other actions to the planning commission, and Planning Administrator Ashley Davis reiterated that position to the council.

One issue for the planning commission, or at least for its chairman, Scott Gaither, was Gaither’s view that state law did not allow the immediate rezoning of property annexed into the city. Davis and an attorney for the city both told the council that Gaither’s interpretation of state law was erroneous.

More than a month prior to council action on the annexation and associated requests, representatives of the project held a community meeting. At that Dec. 4 session, local residents had questions about stormwater runoff from the site, noise and the potential impact of the data center’s electrical power needs on the surrounding community.

Many of those issues were brought to the city council meeting, including a question from one man regarding apparent rumors that some sort of non-disclosure agreement was in place regarding the particulars of the data center project.

Hughes quashed that speculation, saying flatly, “I have not entered into any NDAs with anybody on the city council, the mayor, et cetera, nor have the mayor, the city council, et cetera, entered into any NDAs with me.”

Also, as he had at the planning commission, Hughes confronted a question from a nearby resident concerned about what would happen with the data center if current technology for such facilities should change in the relatively near future.

“Right now, hyperscalers and data center developers, myself included, are prepared to invest billions upon billions of dollars in these campuses, which I think gives you a good sense that we’re not putting billions of dollars into data centers if we think they’re going to go obsolete anytime soon.”

“We think they’ll be an important part of the economy going forward,” Hughes continued, “and hopefully an important part of Social Circle’s tax base.”