Effingham Co. manager addresses data center plan

SPRINGFIELD, Ga. (WTOC) -After protesters demanded “transparency” over OpenAI’s proposed $20 billion data center campus, Effingham County’s manager is now addressing the question many residents say they’re still asking: Why didn’t the public hear about this sooner?

The push for answers comes after hundreds of people packed an OpenAI public open house Thursday, where protesters called for county leaders to stop the project and residents pressed company representatives on concerns ranging from power and water to the pace of the announcement.

Effingham County Manager Tim Callanan told says residents’ concerns are understandable.

“People’s concerns are legitimate and they’re legitimate because of what was built in the past,” Callanan said.

Callanan said the site in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Park was zoned for industrial use about two decades ago, which is why the project did not go through the kind of rezoning process that typically triggers formal public notices, hearings and votes.

He said public involvement in large developments often happens when a property’s zoning is being changed, but in this case, the zoning was already in place.

“I can’t imagine it being constitutional to allow there to be a public vote for someone to build something on their property that they have the right to build on,” Callanan said. “In this case, they had the right to build on, it was use-by-right.”

He added that he believes the perception of a “lack of transparency” stems from the timing, since the rezoning did not happen alongside the current proposal.

Callanan also said OpenAI first reached out earlier this year and that county leaders took steps before moving forward, including visiting data center sites in person.

“We’ve done our research on data centers and we know what we don’t want,” Callanan said.

He says the county wanted to evaluate concerns residents have raised publicly, including water use, noise and power demands, and said officials believe the project will avoid the problems that have created “horror stories” in other communities.

Callanan said residents who still have questions should reach out directly.

“Take the time to get the information… and if you’re not seeing the information you want… just email us at www.effinghamcounty.org/605/Public-Engagement-Services and we’ll get it to you,” Callanan said.

For more information on the data center campus project, click here.