Savannah council workshops data center ordinance, emphasizing resident input

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Savannah city council gathered Thursday to discuss where and how data centers will be allowed in the city.

Council passed a moratorium on data centers months ago, with the intention of implementing an ordinance. The city does not currently have an ordinance for “hyper-scale” centers.

Mayor Van Johnson said data centers are common in the city already, but not ones measured in acres.

“There’s a data center in this building, we have data centers in our offices, in our homes,” Johnson said.

Council discusses resident input

Nick Palumbo, District 4 Savannah alderman, spoke about the approach council should take toward data centers.

“I encourage us to please be as deliberative as possible, be as selective as possible, and the work to decommission them as diligent as possible,” Palumbo said.

After Thursday’s workshop, Johnson said council decided residents need to be part of the decision-making process.

“Understanding where in the city they could be, where they are already, where we would not want them to be, but I think most importantly, creating a mechanism by which the city has the ability to have residents come speak to their council before it’s approved,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the process would involve residents and city council directly, turning data center proposals into special-use permits.

City manager cites existing infrastructure

Savannah City Manager Jay Melder said right-sized data centers are critical infrastructure for the city.

“We have data centers here in Savannah that have been for decades, they serve hospitals, schools, governments, businesses, we need to be able to account for it, this ordinance is gonna let us do it,” Melder said.

Melder said multiple city departments have put effort into the ordinance and said many agencies are involved in the discussions.

“This is getting ahead of the issue, we don’t have a project that’s been proposed, this is about getting ahead of the issue so we’ve got our ducks in a row,” Melder said.

City council said it is working to include residents in each discussion before making a decision.