A data center spanning 1,600 acres has been approved for construction by the city council of Forsyth, Georgia, which voted 5-1 in favor of the project on Monday.

According to a Developments of Regional Impact application filed last November, the campus, located along Johnsonville Road, Smith Road, and Collier Road west of I-75, will span 12 million sq ft (1.1m sqm) at completion.

CBRE-owned Trammell Crow Company is the main backer of the project, and it will work with local timber firm H&H, which currently owns the land.

Previous reports show that development on the project could go on until 2037, costing around $8.4 billion.

Details about the facility’s capacity are sparse.

Opposition to the data center was voiced during Monday’s meeting. Local residents expressed concern about the campus’ potential impact on the environment and the speed with which the planning proceedings had occurred, whilst city officials argued that the tax revenue generated by the data center was too important to be passed up.

Forsyth is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, some 60 miles south of Atlanta.

Atlanta and its surrounding areas have traditionally been a Tier 2 market, but increased demand for data centers has resulted in a surge of data center proposals.

It was reported last November that powered land developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure was eyeing a potential 200-acre campus in Monroe County. Google also purchased a 950-acre land parcel in the county last October.