APPLING, Ga (WBTW) – A proposed data center in Columbia County the hot topic at a Town Hall meeting in Appling Thursday night.

Dozens of concerned Appling citizens voiced their opinions on the new data center that is being considered by commissioners. The current plan would put it near Club Car and the Amazon Fulfillment Center.

Vin Muller has lived in Appling for 20 years and tells me his main concern is water quality in the area.

“If they are pulling water from the river what does that mean for the downstream users, but if they are pulling water from the aquifer, most of the people from the Appling area have wells, if they pull 6 million gallons of water a day which the county said is the worst case estimate, which you build on worse case, 6 million gallons will run everyone’s well dry, the aquifer will go dry,” said Muller.

Another concern Muller and others had was how the data center will affect their property values amid rising property taxes.

“When the tax bills came out a month ago there was a lot of noise about that because the prices went up, I don’t think a data center is going to improve my home value, I think it will reduce my home value, I’d like to see my taxes go down when that happens,” Muller said  

Columbia County District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch said she and other commissioners anticipated resident concerns and was grateful for the turn out.

“Commissioner Carroway and I have a very good finger on the pulse of our community and we were expecting that. We have heard a lot of feedback and concern from our constituents and it’s understandable, we have concern and this is a huge project for Columbia County that has to be fully vetted and fully considered and that takes time,” Couch said

Earlier this week Columbia County Commission Chair Doug Duncan said county leaders would not allow any risk to any of the water tables or the power grid.

There will be another town hall meeting at the Evans Library from 6:30 to 7:30 on Monday.