Commercial cryptocurrency-mining operations are prohibited in Decatur County.

The ordinance applies to all planned data centers and to facilities constructed, installed, or substantially modified after the effective date; a substantial modification is an expansion increasing floor area by 50% or more.

Data centers may use only the listed data-center-related uses and accessory uses, including specified computing, utility, telecommunications, research, and power-generation activities.

The Board of Commissioners may waive or modify the ordinance's requirements only for data-center developments located in a county-owned or county-designated industrial park.

All principal and accessory structures must have permanent concrete foundations; buildings are limited to 75 feet, with up to 15 additional feet for parapets and rooftop equipment, not exceeding 90 feet total.

Shipping containers, railroad cars, semitrailer trailers, and similar temporary storage units are prohibited except at construction sites during construction.

Construction, site, storm-drainage, utility, and other development plans must be submitted for review and approval and must address setbacks, buffers, lighting, fencing, and other ordinance requirements.

A data-center site must contain at least 50 acres unless the Board of Commissioners grants a variance after a showing of no adverse infrastructure or natural-resource impacts.

Total building coverage is limited to 70% of the lot area, excluding parking lots and storm-drainage holding ponds.

Buildings must generally be at least 1,000 feet from existing occupied residences and active places of worship. A smaller separation requires written consent from the affected residential property owner or worship-place legal agent, or the governing body's site-specific findings may reduce the distance to no less than 500 feet with specified mitigation.

Buildings must generally be at least 1,000 feet from schools, hospitals, and public parks; the governing body may reduce the distance to no less than 500 feet only with site-specific findings and specified mitigation.

Sites must have direct access to a state or federal highway or county road capable of accommodating heavy truck traffic, as determined by the road-maintaining entity.

Data centers must maintain 300-foot setbacks from front, side, and rear property lines and at least 150 feet of road frontage.

Data centers are prohibited in FEMA-mapped Zone A flood areas unless the applicant demonstrates through hydraulic modeling that the project will not raise the 1% annual-chance flood elevation by more than one foot, or provides qualifying compensatory flood storage on a 1:1 volumetric basis.

Structures must be at least 50 feet from the right-of-way of any railroad track.

Data centers must provide an eight-foot-high natural visual buffer along all property lines; vegetation buffers must be at least 50 feet deep and achieve full screening within four growing seasons.

HVAC systems, air-conditioning units, and electrical generators must be screened from public rights-of-way and adjacent properties for visual and noise purposes and must be at least 100 feet from adjacent property lines.

Security fencing and walls cannot be located within the required visual buffer.

Private roads within a data-center development must follow county public-road design guidelines unless otherwise approved by the County.

Operations may not exceed an average of 65 dBA over any 15-minute period from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., or 55 dBA from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., measured at the applicant's property boundary; if existing sound is higher, operations may not increase the existing level.

An acoustic barrier must surround exterior mechanical equipment wherever necessary to meet the noise limits, must be shown on the approved site plan, and must be maintained throughout the facility's operational life.

On-site generator testing is limited to two hours per day, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and cannot occur on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Backup generators may be used only during bona fide emergency power outages, apart from routine testing during the permitted testing hours.

Operators must provide the County Administrator with three months' notice of scheduled generator testing dates and times.

The County may require sound studies after permitting, and the operator must pay for required sound tests or studies and implement any approved corrective solution within the required period.

Before site-plan approval, applicants must submit a raw-water-needs analysis and a letter from the public water purveyor confirming sufficient capacity and the method of service.

Evaporative cooling systems requiring replacement of more than 10% of system capacity in any 12-month period are prohibited; closed-loop cooling or an equivalent water-conserving system is required unless a variance is approved.

Before permit approval, applicants must submit an independent third-party hydrogeologic study estimating annual water use and comparing it with the prior property's use or similar surrounding areas.

Water-treatment, discharge, and sewer plans require County approval and approval from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and Georgia Department of Health, as applicable.

Before a permit is approved, the applicant must provide a letter from the electric power supplier confirming capacity and willingness to serve the project.

Electrical service-line and substation location, structural, and design plans are subject to review and approval.

Exterior lighting must use Dark-Sky-compliant or equivalent full-cutoff, fully shielded fixtures with zero uplight; fixtures must be at least four times their mounting height from property lines, and site lighting cannot exceed 20 feet in mounting height.

Lighting at the property line is limited to 0.5 foot-candles, and exterior lighting may not create glare on adjacent properties or public streets.

Applicants must deposit an escrow amount before the pre-application meeting or County review begins, with the initial deposit set at the greater of $25,000 or $2,500 per megawatt-hour of consumption.

Applicants must replenish the escrow when its balance falls below one-third of the initial deposit so that at least two-thirds of the initial deposit is restored; no further application action may occur until replenishment.

The County may retain consultants and experts to review applications, negotiations, construction, modifications, and inspections, with the applicant responsible for reasonable related costs.

A special-use-permit application must include a baseline environmental-impact study addressing air, water, energy, noise, light, traffic, natural resources, and archaeological or cultural resources, including mitigation measures.

The Board of Commissioners may impose environmental benchmarks beyond the baseline study, and the applicant must submit a compliance study when applying for a building permit.

No data-center operation may be developed without Planning Commission review for ordinance, fire, safety, building-code, and state and federal compliance.

The Planning Commission has up to 60 days after submission of all plans to make a recommendation, and final approval by the Board of Commissioners is required before any permit is issued.

Each application is subject to a $5,000 permit fee.

Each proposed facility must include a decommissioning plan covering electronic waste and other materials, including future equipment upgrades and replacements, plus a bond, letter of credit, or other financial surety sufficient to cover estimated decommissioning costs.

Facilities are subject to County or authorized-agent inspections, and violations may result in warnings or citations, fines of up to $1,000 per day for continuing infractions, and injunctive relief.

County-owned or county-designated industrial parks may receive waivers or modifications of the ordinance’s requirements.

Data centers and related uses are permitted when they meet the ordinance’s standards, including data processing, cloud-related services, consulting, scientific research, utilities, power generation and storage, and telecommunications towers.

Accessory uses including utilities, electrical substations, on-site power production, water towers, mechanical equipment, backup power, and redundant communications are expressly allowed within data center developments.

Prefabricated, pre-engineered, or modular structures are permitted, subject to permanent concrete foundations and the height limit.

Data center buildings may be up to 75 feet high, with an additional 15 feet for parapets and rooftop equipment, for a maximum total height of 90 feet, subject to applicable regulations.

The required separation from an existing occupied residence may be reduced to not less than 500 feet with the property owner’s written consent or, for residences and certain other protected uses, through site-specific evidence and enhanced mitigation.

The 1,000-foot separation from schools, hospitals, and public parks may be reduced to not less than 500 feet if the governing body finds that enhanced setbacks, berms, walls, equipment placement, and operating limits provide equal or greater protection.

Private roads are allowed within a data center development and may follow county public-road design guidelines unless the County approves otherwise.

If existing background sound already exceeds the ordinance’s daytime or nighttime limits, the facility need only be designed so that existing sound levels are not increased at the external boundaries.

Alternative cooling methods may be approved by variance if the applicant demonstrates that they conserve water, protect local resources, and comply with applicable environmental requirements.

The Planning Commission has 60 days to make its recommendation after submission of all plans; if it does not act within that period and no extension is granted, the Board of Commissioners may consider, approve, modify, or deny the application.

The ordinance applies to new data centers and substantially modified facilities, with substantial modification defined as an expansion increasing floor area by 50% or more, leaving smaller expansions outside that applicability threshold.