A rezoning proposal for a data center spanning 95 acres in DeKalb County, Georgia, has been deferred.

On September 30, the county’s Board of Commissioners decided to defer its decision regarding the rezoning application to its meeting on October 28.

The applicant, PCC-DeKalb LLC, had filed a Special Land Use Permit to construct a 1,000,000 sq ft (92,903 sqm) data center and an electric substation at 4280 and 4358 Loveless Place, located southeast of Atlanta in the suburb of Ellenwood.

The land parcel falls within an overlay district – an area of land subject to certain planning regulations – and data centers are not listed as a permitted land use category. This led the applicants to state that data centers are most similar to a “utility structure for transmission of service,” which they claim is a permitted use.

However, a report conducted by DeKalb County staff on September 26 disagreed with the applicant, leading staff to recommend a 30-day deferral. The county’s Planning Commission, which met in early September, also advised the Board of Commissioners to defer its decision.

The Planning Commission stated that this would “allow appropriate time” for various issues, including the incompatibility of the application with the relevant Comprehensive Plan.

The Board also deferred its decision on whether to introduce a text amendment for the inclusion of data centers as a permitted use category within certain land use designations. It will consider this proposal on November 20.

Not much is known about PCC-DeKalb LLC. The company’s principal address is the same address given by its registered agent, Tonya Langley, and it is represented by Steven Jones, an attorney at Taylor Duma specializing in land use and zoning.

The facility’s end user is also unknown.

DeKalb County is located in the north-central part of Georgia and encompasses some parts of western Atlanta. Some interest is being shown in the county: earlier this year, US solar developer Donato Solar submitted a concept plan to the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission for a 4MW solar project to power a "boutique data center.”

Atlanta is Georgia’s largest and most prominent data center market. A CBRE report published in September stated that the city was seeing record-low vacancy rates.

Amazon recently acquired 1,000 acres of land around 55 miles south of the city for a data center project.