A data center proposal in Social Circle, Georgia, has failed to receive a recommendation from the Planning Commission.

At the September 23 meeting, the Commission unanimously voted against recommending the adoption of four requests pertaining to a potential 150-acre data center at 0 Hawkins Academy Road and 0 Roy Malcom Road. This included a request for annexation, an amendment to the future land use map, rezoning, and special use to allow a data center under light industrial zoning.

According to the site plan, the data center, if built, would consist of three two-story buildings and a substation totaling approximately 1.5 million sq ft (140,000 sqm). Each building would have access to 96MW of power, producing a total potential capacity of 288MW.

The Covington News reports that opposition to the project has been strong, with members of the public and the council expressing concern at the pace of development.

Just a week before, on September 16, the City of Social Circle also unanimously passed a 90-day moratorium on the submission of new data center projects, giving officials the time to consider the current proposals.

The applicant is real estate and timber company, WSG Land, LLC. It is led by Carlton Walstad, who is also the owner of Greencone Investments LLC, a real estate company that was recently hit with a $10 million penalty for complications related to its conservation easements.

According to The Covington News, Walstad stated that there was an unnamed end user lined up for the project, but added that they could not be identified because of a non-disclosure agreement.

Social Circle is a city in southern Walton and Newton Counties, some 45 miles (72km) east of Atlanta. Meta has a data center just outside Social Circle, and Sailfish Investors recently filed to develop another 1.78 million sq ft (165,365 sqm) data center campus along Social Circle Parkway.