Henry County Planning Commission approves rezoning that could bring new data center

Henry County’s planning commission has approved a rezoning plan that could bring a large data center to the county. The proposed data center would take up more than 500 acres on agricultural land close to State Road 109 and I-70.  Surge Development LLC says no specific company or user has been chosen.

Chris King is a developer with Surge.

“I think the difference maker was that we were 100 percent focused on putting the community first and understanding what the communities’ needs were and making sure that that project could support those needs,” King said.

In previous meetings, the community had concerns about data centers using a massive amount of electricity and fresh water for cooling.  King said the company promises not to drill any on-site water wells and exceed environmental and emission standards.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reports a large data center can go though as much as five million gallons per day.

Marsha Gratner is president of the Henry County Planning Commission.

“To me, it’s a very unique – and possibly setting a example for the whole state,” said Gratner.

Those in favor of the data center pointed to the hundreds of union construction jobs the facility would create.

Mark Weiss came to support the data center. A union construction worker himself, he believes people against the data center want Henry County to stay rural.

“Well, you can keep rural, but there’s no jobs. There’s no opportunities for kids, they’re moving away.” Weiss said. “People are moving away from Henry County. They’re losing, you know, their schools are losing money. They need these jobs”
 

Kiley Blalock is a member of the community who will be directly impacted by the data center due to the facility touching land owned by her family. She said that she was disappointed by the planning commission’s approval.

“Thus far, they have not built any trust with the community, especially those of us that live around him or the proposed data center,” she said. “And we don’t have anything in writing. We have no guarantees.”

The zoning ordinance change now moves to the Henry County Commissioners for a vote. If it’s approved, Surge says it will come back to the county with a comprehensive development plan and expects construction could begin in the next couple of years.

Thomas Ouellette is IPR News' reporter and producer. Contact him at thomas.ouellette@bsu.edu