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Regbase

The Data Center Divide

Lamar County

This restriction takes precedence while in effect. The rating below excludes temporary restrictions.

Slightly Pro-Data Center Policies

Lamar County has enacted a temporary moratorium that pauses new data-center development and delays expansions while in effect. Its duration is unspecified, and the description does not say existing centers must stop operating.

Rating from Georgia statewide as there are no scored current or future laws outside temporary restrictions for Lamar County.

current law · County measure
Rezoned a specific property from agricultural-residential to commercial use; it does not create a data-center-specific rule.Lamar County Resolution 2022-08 (2022)

People behind it

  • Initiated the application to rezone the property from AR to C1.

  • Initiated the application with Daniel Reeves to rezone the property from AR to C1.

  • Considered and enacted the ordinance rezoning the property and amending the Official Zoning Map.

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  • Chairman of the Lamar County Board of Commissioners who signed the ordinance.

  • County Clerk who attested the ordinance.

Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions2

  • The property identified in Exhibit A is rezoned from AR (Agricultural Residential) to C1 (Commercial 1), changing its zoning classification to a commercial district. The ordinance states that the change is subject to conditions, but no specific conditions are listed in the measure.

  • The rezoning and corresponding amendment to the Official Zoning Map take effect immediately upon adoption by the Lamar County Board of Commissioners.

Sources

Specific to Lamar County only.

current law · County measure
Temporarily halts new data center development in Lamar County under a moratorium extended in March 2026.Lamar County commercial and industrial development moratorium (September 2025)

What this means

The proposal is a data-center moratorium, which would temporarily stop new data-center development and delay expansions while it is in effect. The source does not state how long it would last, and it does not indicate that existing centers would have to stop operating (agenda lists a “Data Center Moratorium”).

Timing

The sources report that the 2025 moratorium was extended as to data centers by Resolution 26-03, but do not specify an expiration date or ending condition.

People behind it

  • Identified as creating the county moratorium on commercial and industrial development, later extended to data centers.

Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements11

  • Lamar County adopted a moratorium on commercial and manufacturing development in September 2025 and later extended it to data centers through Resolution 26-03; the source gives no end date. The extension to data centers

  • Clayton County imposed a 120-day moratorium on new data centers, through December 31, 2025. 120-day moratorium

  • Coweta County imposed a 180-day moratorium on data centers in May 2025, scheduled to expire November 3. 180-day moratorium

  • The article also reports September 2025 data-center moratoria in Pike and Troup counties and the city of LaGrange; it does not provide their durations or detailed terms. Other moratoriums passed in September

  • Bartow County requires a 200-foot buffer between the property boundary and development, and limits noise to 65 decibels during the day and 55 decibels at night, measured over any 30-minute period. 200-foot buffer

  • Jones County requires data centers to use closed-loop water systems. Require using closed-loop water

  • DeKalb County's described draft ordinance would regulate where data centers may locate, their size and spacing from one another and transit stops, and their noise, power demand, and water use. The drafted ordinance outlines

  • Lumpkin County's ordinance regulates water discharged by data centers and related compute centers: the water must not exceed 41°F for cold-water fisheries or 37.4°F for warm-water fisheries. Water temperature limits

  • Forsyth County bars data-center cooling systems from using the county water system. Does not allow the cooling system

  • Coweta County's described draft ordinance would allow data centers only in light-industrial and industrial zoning districts and impose requirements concerning location, buffering, design, noise, lighting, traffic, and utility capacity. Latest draft allows data centers

  • Atlanta prohibits data centers within the 22-mile radius of the Beltline overlay district. Prohibited within the 22 miles radius

Sources

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