The Data Center Divide
A policy snapshot ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mapping data center incentives, restrictions, and bans through legislation, regulations, and executive actions across all 50 states and 1,462 local jurisdictions.
Effingham County
Anti-Data Center Policies
Effingham County’s enacted ordinance is also described as a proposal; it requires conditional-use approval and hearings, plus noise, generator, decommissioning, and resource-disclosure rules.
current law · County measureWould require data centers to obtain conditional-use approval and meet proposed rules for noise, backup generators, decommissioning, utility-demand disclosures, and traffic studies; the minutes describe these as draft regulations, not an adopted law.Effingham County Ordinance 2026-352
What this means
The proposal would require data centers to get conditional-use approval and face public hearings, adding potential delay (conditional uses). It also proposes noise and generator rules, decommissioning plans, and disclosures about power, water, and traffic; these are meaningful new burdens, though the source does not provide enough detail to judge their exact cost (key provisions).
People behind it
- Pamela Melser
Director of Development Services and author of the proposed amendment to the Permitted Use Table.
- Development Services Department
Department responsible for developing and proposing the ordinance amendment.
- Planning Manager Wright
Development Services planning official who presented the framework for the proposed data center regulations.
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- Tim Callanan
County Manager who presented and participated in developing the proposed data center regulatory framework.
- County Manager
County official identified as reviewing the proposed Permitted Use Table amendment and participating in its development.
- County Attorney
County legal official identified as reviewing the proposed Permitted Use Table amendment.
Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements9
Data centers would require approval as conditional uses under the county’s permitted-use table, rather than being allowed automatically.
Each data-center application would require a public hearing before the Board of Commissioners, regardless of the underlying zoning designation.
The regulations would impose low-frequency noise limits on data centers.
Data centers would have to comply with standards for backup generators, including a prohibition on natural-gas turbines as accessory uses.
Applicants would be required to submit a mandatory decommissioning plan.
Applicants would have to disclose the facility’s power and water demands.
Data centers would be subject to objective thresholds triggering traffic studies.
During construction, data centers would have to comply with controls on dust, burning, and temporary generators.
The proposed rules would require Planning Board review for commercial and industrial conditional-use applications, including data-center applications if adopted as requested by the commissioners.
Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions1
Data centers would be treated as conditional uses in the Table of Permitted Uses, creating an established path to seek approval rather than prohibiting them outright; approval would require a public hearing before the Board of Commissioners, regardless of the underlying zoning. conditional uses within the Table of Permitted Uses
Sources
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