Data Center Denial Heads to Fayetteville City Council on Appeal

After drawing more than 12,000 online views to The Citizen’s coverage of the denial and filling the Fayetteville Planning and Zoning meeting room with roughly 100 residents opposed to the project, a proposed data center from CHI/Acquisitions, LP is now headed to the Fayetteville City Council on appeal.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted Jan. 27 to deny a conceptual site plan and building elevations for the project on Highway 85 North. The property is zoned Business Park (BP), a classification that allows data centers as a permitted use under the city’s zoning code.

City officials confirmed the appeal hearing will take place March 19 at 6 p.m. in the City Council chamber at Fayetteville City Hall, located at 210 Stonewall Ave. W., Fayetteville, GA 30214.

Because the proposed use complies with existing zoning, the commission’s decision was advisory, and final authority now rests with the Fayetteville City Council.

Several experts in economic development and local government, who spoke off the record to The Citizen due to the sensitivity of the issue, said denying a data center proposal on property already zoned for that use would likely prompt a legal challenge from the developer.

The appeal comes amid heightened scrutiny of data center development in Fayetteville following public backlash over the approval and expansion of the QTS data center campus. In response, city leaders recently approved a temporary moratorium on new data center applications, though projects already in the review process — including the CHI/Acquisitions proposal — are not affected.

Despite the moratorium, some residents say the appeal highlights ongoing frustration with how data center projects have been handled by city leadership.

“I hope Fayetteville’s leaders are learning their lesson from the QTS data center,” said Jesse Brooks, a Fayetteville resident. “The way they approved that project so quickly and have allowed it to expand has done so much damage in the city’s trust. I think it’s going to affect our elections until long after the current city council is voted out.”

Brooks said the moratorium does little to address developments already in the pipeline.

“We’re all happy about the moratorium, but it’s not going to be enough to stop this new data center that got their proposal in beforehand,” Brooks said. “The best thing the city can do to salvage their relationship with voters is to deny this. No one in our town wants another data center taking up our land and resources.”

When the City Council takes up the appeal, members will be tasked with balancing resident opposition against existing zoning rights and legal considerations tied to permitted land uses.

The March 19 meeting will be open to the public.