AI Data Centers In DeKalb: What’s At Stake For Arabia Mountain NHA?

Tech companies are putting a lot of pressure on DeKalb County and surrounding areas to open up more data centers. But what will be the impact of these centers in DeKalb and the National Heritage Area?

So-called “Artificial intelligence” (AI) is on the rise as the latest technological craze, and tech companies and investors are scrambling to get in early and strike gold. It seems like every app and program nowadays comes with a built in AI-based assistant or bot, and ambitious programs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are growing in popularity. With this rise in AI comes the demand for new tech infrastructure in the form of “data centers,” which provide the power (both electrically and computationally) and hardware to facilitate the training and execution of AI algorithms. 

So far, many such data centers, including those owned or operated on behalf of tech giants like Amazon, Meta and Google, have been popping up in residential areas due to preexisting infrastructure, available building spaces, and tax breaks. However, many residents of these areas have concerns about the oftentimes exorbitant water and electrical usage associated with AI. Now, the data center industry is eyeing DeKalb County as its next building ground, including in the Southeast Atlanta neighborhood of Ellenwood, about fifteen miles outside Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area.

What Is A Data Center?

A data center is a large facility housing the infrastructure to support computing, store information and provide power. Although these facilities have been around for a long time—typically hosting websites, cloud storage, and web services—AI data centers are a newer phenomenon. These complex centers store and process data, train AI algorithms and power its computing. Because AI algorithms require far greater power, such as more electricity and water for cooling, these AI centers have a much larger utility and ecological footprint, often the size of an entire city, in terms of power and water consumption. For instance, the proposed Ellenwood facility less than a half-hour from Arabia was approved for up to 10,000 megawatts. That’s equivalent to the amount of wattage that electric facilities supply to New York City—for a whole summer!

“We’re keeping coal plants alive for this increased energy demand,” said DeKalb Super District 6 Commissioner Ted Terry, who’s been cautioning a slower approach to AI. “It’s okay to have data centers that are [run on] 100-percent renewable energy. That’s the big issue right now—they’re going to come here, regardless.”

AI data centers need large spaces, often taking open lots in urban or suburban areas where a different facility was formerly present. Think of an old shipping center or unused movie studio to get an idea of how big these spaces are. This has led to a concerning trend around the country where these centers are popping up in residential communities. Additionally, tax breaks and lenient laws put in place by local governments (which view these AI warehouses as an investment due to the potential of new jobs and business), draw many companies to build in these places. Some companies aren’t even building data centers for current use, but rather building now hoping that a corporation interested in investing in AI will lease or buy them later. 

One notorious region for development is now referred to as “Data Center Alley,” in the Washington, DC suburbs of Northern Virginia. This “Alley” is home to over 200 such scattered across the immediate area (with upwards of 400 in total in the region and even more planned or under construction) that take up a combined 35 million square feet. The preexisting infrastructure and history of other (non-AI) data storage renders the region a convenient nesting ground for new ones. However, the folks who live near these massive centers have faced issues with constant humming coming from the facilities, increased water and power bills, and decreased property values.

Other data center hotspots exist all around the country, with residents of each region voicing similar concerns. These concerns aren’t unfounded, either. According to Bloomberg, power bills have increased up to 267-percent for households near such hotspots. Since these facilities take electricity from local power grids, the demand for energy rises significantly, diving up costs for everyone. Not to mention, infrastructure also has to be upgraded and maintained to accommodate data warehouse growth, usually with taxpayer money.

Proposed Data Centers In DeKalb

Metro Atlanta is currently another rising AI data center hub, with many proposed projects on the horizon. One such application was filed for a 95-acre site at 4280 and 4358 Loveless Place and 2281 Pineview Trail in unincorporated Ellenwood, Georgia in southeast DeKalb County, around 15 miles from the western edge of Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area. The site is located at the end of an unassuming residential street and sits parallel to a major residential subdivision.

The Special Land Use Permit application for the proposed 2-million-square-foot facility was filed by PCC-DeKalb, LLC. Although PCC-DeKalb does not have a website, online records indicate that it was opened in 2023 as a real estate and leasing company. As the “data center” designation is currently absent from the county’s application system, PCC-DeKalb filed the special use permit request under “utility structure,” allowed in the Bouldercrest Overlay District that defines zoning standards in the Ellenwood area and is intended to protect local residents. Critics, however, disagree with this designation, arguing that the center’s impacts would be much larger than that of a “utility structure” and, furthermore, that such a facility has no place in that location.

“They’re not actually data center companies, they’re real estate development companies,” said Commissioner Terry about PCC-DeKalb and other companies interested in constructing these warehouse-sized facilities. “What’s happening now is real estate developers are looking for large parcels of land that are along transmission lines, and the reason why they’re doing that is transmission lines are very expensive to build, and Georgia Power is now requiring data center companies to pay for the building capacity of that transmission line and substation for any development.”

Local groups like the Atlanta chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Renew DeKalb are advocating for the prohibition of data centers in the county, citing concerns over health impacts, noise pollution and increased utility rates. Environmental impact is also a major concern for many residents, who are used to having to fight for their environmental rights after the BioLab pool chemical facility in neighboring Conyers caught on fire in September 2024 (for the fourth time), releasing toxic fumes across Metro Atlanta and contaminating Rockdale County’s soil with cancer-causing dioxins and other chemicals.

The proposed Ellenwood facility is about a twenty-minute drive from the Arabia Alliance on Klondike Road in Stonecrest. If constructed, this center would not likely impact the parks, preserves, green spaces and historical sites in the NHA. But it could potentially affect residents living on the western edges of the NHA off of Panola Road or Flakes Mill Road. And as always, the South River, a local natural resource with a notorious history of environmental neglect, is potentially at stake. Not to mention, the land used for these enormous buildings could be used for crucial park space and housing.

“I’m concerned that we will get ourselves in the position where we are building out these massive data centers and either they don’t get built or they get half built, or they get built and the get irrelevant in 2 to 3 years and we’re left with a bunch of empty boxes on land that could be for housing or conservation,” said Terry. “All the sites I mentioned are in the South River watershed and any development, regardless of what the development is, will have an impact on stormwater runoff quality from those sites downstream.”

Another potential data center at Intrenchment Creek Park in the Constitution community just outside of South Atlanta in DeKalb County is currently in limbo. In 2021, DeKalb County “swapped” the land to Blackhall Studios, a film production studio that was sold soon after. This occurrence sparked the “Stop the Swap” petition which encourages the county to buy back the land and use it to develop a public park, its original designation. Ryan Millsap, CEO of Blackhall who currently claims ownership of the land, has been considering selling it to a data center developer.

Companies investing in AI tout new job opportunities and economic growth. In many cases, however, job growth is usually minimal beyond a handful of temporary construction positions to build these facilities. Many also complain about the constant humming emitted by these buildings, a reminder of the lack of regulatory enforcement and standards for data centers as a result of their sudden, monumental boom and, allegedly, ambitious promises.

Voices Being Heard

The voices of local citizens have not rung unheard. In a recent email to constituents, Super District 6 Commissioner Ted Terry pledged to pursue incentives for 100-percent renewable energy, cap data centers to 500,000 square feet, require a health and environmental impact study for all applications, and to create an AI tech dividend fund that would invest 50-percent of tax revenue back into the community. Despite this, many residents and activists urge the Commissioners to put a complete and concrete stop to data warehouse construction in the county.

There is precedent for this. Back in September, DeKalb County set in place a moratorium (later extended in December), pausing the acceptance of data center applications until this June. This would allow for more comprehensive studies on the impacts of these facilities, and more time for the community to have their voices heard and potentially craft new guidelines.

“The moratorium was designed for us to actually draft our data center regulations,” said Terry. “We never had any regulations on the books for data centers, no definitions, no land use requirements, no land development standards. We’re like 95-percent there. There are about 3 more things I’m trying to get in there that I think would be perfect for protection, so we’ll see how that goes.”

During the January 13th DeKalb Board of Commissioners meeting in Decatur, DeKalb residents voiced their concerns over the Ellenwood facility. Commissioners were scheduled to vote on the center’s special land use permit but deferred the vote until later in the year to allow for an updated text amendment to be created that would provide extra guidelines. Most recently, during a Board of Commissioners meeting on January 27, Commissioners voted to defer that text amendment vote until May, citing anticipation of the state potentially passing broader guidelines.

It’s far too early to tell what will come of the proposed Ellenwood data center or how DeKalb County will handle balancing the interests of eager tech companies versus the concerns of everyday citizens. And while so far there have been no proposals for data warehouses within the boundaries of the National Heritage Area, locations in both Stonecrest and Lithonia have reportedly been considered for potential future sites.

More broadly, recent votes have been held to determine the future of regulations and standards across Georgia. On February 17, the Georgia House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would protect residential electricity customers from having to pay for the expansion and operation of data centers. Nonetheless, critics say the bill didn’t go far enough as it does not prohibit electricity rate increases due to higher power demand. Additionally, on February 18 the Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to deny environmental groups’ request to change a decision allowing Georgia Power to expand a number of power plants in response to the “AI boom,” an expansion that critics argue is excessive. The fight against data centers is complex and multifaceted, as is the push for their development. Community members continue to strive to have their voices heard and demand that their health, safety and wellbeing be placed first.