PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. () – Community members are urging city officials in Port Wentworth to impose a six-month suspension on all data center developments.
The Port Wentworth City Council had previously established an ordinance that provides a framework and regulations for data centers.
During a meeting on May 21, locals once again voiced their apprehensions regarding the introduction of a data center.
Patrick Donovan, a member of the Port Wentworth Planning and Zoning board and a real estate professional, initiated a petition requesting city council members to pause data center initiatives.
“I’m not against advancement,” Donovan stated. “I simply want to ensure that we implement safeguards to protect the residents here, so if data centers do come, the community is shielded.”
Data centers are large warehouses filled with computers that store, process and distribute data for websites, apps and cloud services. Residents in Port Wentworth said they are afraid that one could be coming to their neighborhood in the future without many restrictions.
“Data center language was introduced into a city council meeting, kind of out of the blue,” Donovan said. “No one kind of knew it was coming. The first reading was at a city council meeting and planning and zoning hadn’t seen it yet. Then they sent us the data center proposed language that was supposed to go into the zoning ordinance and there were zero restrictions.”
Donovan said his main concern is that there aren’t enough guardrails surrounding the development and operations of a data center. He said there needs to be rules about where the center would draw their power and water from.
“I worry that if you put a data center right here in the middle of two neighborhoods, Rice Creek, Rice Hope, it’s going to hurt property values,” Donovan said.
Donovan said he wants city officials to be aware of the public’s opinions. Therefore, he created a petition asking city council to enact a temporary moratorium.
The petition also asks for the establishment of a temporary review committee, evaluation of the impacts of data centers within Port Wentworth and to ensure the findings from the committee are used to make a responsible and transparent decision.
“We don’t know the long-term downside of data centers and to put them right next to communities, it doesn’t make sense,” Donovan said.
Donovan said he hopes the petition will reach 5,000 signatures before the next city council meeting on June 18.
If you are a resident of Port Wentworth and are interested in the petition, click here.