It wasn’t scheduled on the city council agenda and if you blinked you missed it when councilors voted without discussion to delay the first reading of an ordinance to address guidelines for a proposed data center. City attorney Clifton Fay said Councilor Toyia Tucker and others requested the resolution delaying the ordinance creating a Technology Overlay District for up to 45 days.
The resolution reads in part “this Council desires to delay first reading of these Technology Overlay District amendments for 45 days in order to further study best practices utilized by other local governments in regulating data centers.” The timing is noteworthy because the delay likely means the controversial ordinance would not come up for a vote by city council until after the May 19th election when the mayor and several council seats are on the ballot.
Fireworks followed on the public agenda. The delay by council did not deter the many citizens who showed up again to share strong opinions about the possibility of a data center in Columbus. Greg Foster has been a rare constant showing up at forums and council meetings in support of a data center. Tuesday Foster went after the opposition aiming his comments directly at the “Stop Hyperscale Data Centers in Muscogee County group”.
“If the Stop Hyper-Scale Data Centers in Muscogee County group gets their way, it will be the biggest con job this area has ever seen. I did what we call in the military a recon of McKee Road. And I did not see a pristine, tranquil forest, with hummingbirds carrying a banner that read ‘Love Nature’ like the opposition would have us believe. What I saw was a lot of industrial level construction taking place up and down that roadway.”
“I believe that the opposition has been dishonest, selfish, and devoid of any regard for our schools, our public safety, our infrastructure, our economy, our city, our county, our state, and our country. As a disabled veteran and a retired Peace Officer of the State of Georgia, I am sad to say that many of the people in the opposition lack good citizenship,” Foster told the council.
The next citizen scheduled to make remarks about “the purveyors of misinformation” was promptly booted from the council meeting for failing to follow basic rules of the public agenda. Jessica Warchal told the mayor providing her name and address was against her constitutional rights. The mayor disagreed and Warchal was escorted out of council chambers by sheriff’s deputies.
Foster was still heavily outnumbered as one by one citizens in the surrounding area voiced opposition to the data center. Sophia Rother, an environmental science major at Columbus State said the creation of a Technology Overlay District should be a referendum for the people to decide. “What I would truly love to see is the zoning overlay on the ballot. The people of Columbus have made it clear that we have strong opinions on this issue, so I feel like it’s only right for people to have a say in what happens,” Rother said.
Pat Stephens told councilors “This comment we have always had data centers in Columbus; this comment got my attention. Let me be clear, there is not now nor has there ever been a data center in Columbus, GA like the hyperscale fire breathing Godzilla that billionaires want everyday people like me, I’m not a part of a group to endure. One of the billionaires stuttered 17 seconds before answering yes to the following question: should humanity survive AI? We do not need that kind of technology here.”
