MARIETTA — A public hearing on a massive AI data center already approved for a Marietta neighborhood is set for next Tuesday, and a local opposition group is urging residents to show up.
What’s happening: The Marietta City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday, June 10, at 7 p.m. at Marietta City Hall at 250 Lawrence Street. The hearing is about a hyperscale data center — a large-scale facility that processes enormous amounts of data — already approved for 1751 Bells Ferry Road. A group called “Not For Us — Cobb County” has organized against the project and is asking neighbors to attend and testify.
What was approved: The Marietta City Council voted unanimously on June 17, 2025, to rezone 31.4 acres at 1751 Bells Ferry Road from retail commercial to light industrial. The developer, Grind Capital Group — an Atlanta-based real estate investment firm also operating as MMM Acquisitions LLC — plans to build two two-story buildings totaling 347,200 square feet. At 105 feet tall, the buildings would stand higher than an eight-story structure. The site currently holds a cell tower and billboards and sits northwest of Atlanta off I-75.
By the numbers:
- Total power draw: 108 megawatts — the developer’s attorney described it as roughly equivalent to the power draw of 80,000 homes
- Building 1: 213,600 square feet, drawing 48 megawatts
- Building 2: 133,600 square feet, drawing 24 megawatts
- Jobs: The developer’s attorney told the council the project would bring 40 jobs. The opposition group, citing public records, puts the permanent job count at 5 to 20.
What the council heard: During the June 2025 meeting, Ward 6 council member Andre Sims questioned the developer directly about heat coming off the facility. The developer acknowledged it would produce “a lot of heat.” Sims voted yes.
The developer’s attorney told the council the project would bring significant tax revenue to the City of Marietta and the Marietta City School System, and that the cost of building an on-site electrical substation would not be passed on to Marietta Power customers. No independent environmental or health impact study was required before the vote. The planning commission had recommended approval.
What the opposition says: “Not For Us — Cobb County” points to peer-reviewed research to back its concerns. A 2024 study from UC Riverside and Caltech found that training one large AI model produces air pollutants equal to 10,000 round-trip car trips between Los Angeles and New York. The same research projected 600,000 asthma cases per year nationally by 2030 and 1,300 premature deaths per year tied to data center air pollution.
The group also cites a 2024 Virginia government audit on data centers and electricity rates, and Bloomberg reporting that wholesale electricity prices near data center hubs have climbed 267% over five years. The group has not presented data specific to this site or this facility.
What’s different about this project: The facility would use a closed-loop cooling system, meaning water is recycled rather than discharged. Cobb County Water confirmed it has enough capacity to serve the site, though no daily water use figure has been made public. The developer is paying to build an on-site electrical substation.
The county moratorium doesn’t apply here: In February 2026, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners placed a temporary pause on new data center applications in unincorporated parts of Cobb County while studying their effects. That pause does not cover this project. The Bells Ferry Road site is inside the City of Marietta’s limits — not unincorporated Cobb County — and the zoning was already approved nearly a year ago.
How this affects real people: Residents near 1751 Bells Ferry Road would have a 105-foot industrial facility as a neighbor. Tuesday’s hearing is the next formal chance for residents to put their concerns on the public record before any building permits are issued.
The path forward: Tuesday’s hearing gives residents a formal opportunity to speak. The council approved the rezoning unanimously in 2025 and would need to take additional steps to change or reverse that decision. DeKalb County and Coweta County have each placed pauses on new data center applications while studying their effects — moves that don’t affect this project but reflect a growing pattern of local pushback across Georgia.
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