Tag Archives: James Banter

Local Development Authority of Irwin County 2026-08-18

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The Local Industrial Development Authority of Irwin County on August 18, 2026, apparently for the first time. Supposedly there are nine members, but they were not all present.

They didn’t say anything until the very end about datacenters, which was why this board was formed. This meeting was entirely about attorney, officers, bylaws, training required by the state, and next meeting: 8 AM, Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

[Local Development Authority of Irwin County 2026-08-22, Apparently its first meeting, Maybe appointed July 6]
Local Development Authority of Irwin County 2026-08-22, Apparently its first meeting, Maybe appointed July 6

This Authority was approved by the Irwin County Commission on June 3, 2026.

As near as I can tell, the members were appointed at the July 6 County Commission meeting. I cannot find any agenda nor minutes on the Irwin County website for that July meeting.

Will Spicer sent this report and video from the August 18 meeting. My edits are marked with [square brackets].

The video:

https://youtu.be/_6cc70LBtFE

The report:

All,

I went to the inaugural meeting of the Development Authority of Irwin County tonight. It was held in a small board room in a building about 1 block from the hospital. I gather this space belongs to the Hospital Authority and it is used for hospital board meetings.

In attendance were [7 of 9 of the new board’s members. Clockwise from the end of the table: Continue reading →

Videos: Datacenter Special Exception approved at Special Called Meeting of Irwin County BOCC 2026-05-20

Update 2026-06-01: Review, Project Arrowhead, DRI 4689, Irwin County, GA –SGRC 2026-05-14.

The Irwin County Commissioners approved almost everything unanimously, including the Special Exception for a datacenter.

[Videos: Datacenter Special Exception Approved at Special Called Meeting of Irwin County BOCC 2026-05-20]
Videos: Datacenter Special Exception Approved at Special Called Meeting of Irwin County BOCC 2026-05-20

The only exception was 6. ACCEPT PHASE II OF THE COURTHOUSE ROOF BID PROJECT, which they tabled.

On the datacenter special exception, several Commissioners did express specific concerns. But they seemed to be relying largely on hearsay, such as by the Commissioners who had visited some datacenters, which “wasn’t really rushed,” yet “We were rushing to see everything we could see. And we didn’t get all the questions like that answered.” Continue reading →

Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06

It looks like the Irwin County Commission added a few things about water, power, and enforcement to their draft datacenter ordinance before they passed it.

The final version, received today in response to a WWALS open records request, is on the WWALS website.

For comparison, a copy of the original draft is here:

https://wwals.net/?p=69663

Do you see any other differences?

For more about datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06, Changes to Water, Energy, Enforcement]
Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06, Changes to Water, Energy, Enforcement

Subclause (3) is new on page 4:

(d) Water Usage Standards.

(1) Only closed-loop cooling systems are permitted in Irwin County.

(2) There shall be no discharge of cooling water into public sewers or ground without treatment.

(3) Before a certificate of occupancy is provided, all data centers shall submit a hydrogeologic study conducted by an independent third-party engineering firm showing estimated annual water usage. Such report should compare estimated water usage to the prior owner/user of the subject property or of that of similar surrounding areas.

Also on page 4, this subclause (1) is new: Continue reading →

Irwinville Data Center Withdrawn by Applicant, Irwin County Commission 2026-03-02

Here’s a reason to stay until the end of a County Commission meeting.

A proposed data center ordinance was read at the March 2, 2026, Irwin County Commission meeting, according to correspondence between the former data center applicant’s attorney and the Irwin County Attorney.

It was not on the agenda. I’m guessing they read it under

13. NEW BUSINESS

a. APPROVE APPLICATION FOR A SPECIAL EXCEPTION TO ZONING FOR DATA CENTER

Tomorrow in Ocilla there is a a Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance –Irwin County Board of Commissioners 2026-03-17.

https://wwals.net/?p=69663

[Irwinville Data Center, Withdrawn by Applicant 2026-03-02, Irwin County Commission, and Developments of Regional Impact (DRI)]
Irwinville Data Center, Withdrawn by Applicant 2026-03-02, Irwin County Commission, and Developments of Regional Impact (DRI)

I got the attorney correspondence by asking in an open records request for the applicant withdrawal letter that staff read at the Public Hearing on March 2.

First, that withdrawal letter.

Then a document on Developments of Regional Impact (DRI).

Then a couple of maps labeled as Concept Site Plan with the name for the project as Ocilla DC.

Finally, there are images of the rest of the document the County Attorney sent in response to a WWALS open records request. The entire PDF document he sent is on the WWALS website. Continue reading →