Data center developer seeks annexation into Covington

COVINGTON — Developers of a prospective data center are asking to have the approximately 98-acre site at 10835 Hazelbrand Road annexed into the city of Covington in order to move forward with the project.

The property, which is developed with a 498,960-square-foot warehouse/distribution facility, is zoned M-2 (heavy industrial) in unincorporated Newton County. According to Planning and Zoning Director Judy Thagard, under Newton County’s zoning ordinance, data centers are allowed only in the Stanton Springs Overlay in unincorporated areas. Covington’s zoning code allows data centers in M-1 and M-2 zoning districts.

The City Council unanimously approved the first reading of the annexation petition at its Dec. 16 meeting. The petition will be brought back before the council for a second reading before final approval.

If the property is annexed, both sides of Hazelbrand Road will be in the city limits, which will mean that the city becomes responsible for maintenance of the road. Currently, because one side of the road is in unincorporated Newton County, the county is responsible for road maintenance.

The council discussed the road maintenance issue, noting that city engineers had expressed concern about a culvert under the road that is not adequate for the water flow during periods of heavy rain. The council considered the cost of replacing the culvert, which could be up to $1 million, balanced against the potential for $480,000 to $700,000 in annual property tax revenue if a data center locates in the facility.

Planning and Zoning Director Judy Thagard noted that the road issue existed prior to development of the property.

The Covington Planning Commission recommended approval of the annexation at its Dec. 10 meeting, as well as establishing the city zoning of the property as M-2.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation on the proposed annexation at its Dec. 3 meeting but did not take any action.

Thagard said the city’s utility departments had also signed off on the development.

Josh Volk of Serverfarm, a developer and operator of data centers, said the proposed project would use city water and natural gas, with Georgia Power providing electric power. Volk said the data center would use “about as much (gas) as you can pump through the existing pipes — in fact, upgrades will be required,” he said. “(Gas) is going to provide primary power generation to the site for a number of years,” until Georgia Power can develop a substation in the area.

Volk said the data center will not be a large user of water.

“It is an air-cooled chiller plant that we are installing,” he said. “It’s not water-cooled like a lot of data centers used to be, so its much lower usage and much less water discharge.”

Volk said the metro Atlanta area, including Covington, is considered a prime market for data centers. Volk said Serverfarm is a global data center provider headquartered in Los Angeles, with six centers in the United States and one in Toronto.

“I can’t stress how important the Atlanta metropolitan area is for us,” Volk said. “This will be the biggest investment we have in the state and in the city.”

Volk said Serverfarm has four potential customers for the facility, “all of which you are all very familiar with.”