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Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06

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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 →

Lease and operating requirements added to Sheriff’s ICE detention agenda item @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16

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Update 2026-04-22: Tabled: Sheriff’s lease for an ICE detention center –Bradford County Commission 2026-04-16.

Late yesterday, Bradford County updated the agenda for this evening to add a lease agreement for the Douglas Building and a list of “Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards”.

That hardly leaves time for anyone to review properly before this evening.

And there is no mention of either of the other two offers for use of the site discussed last time.

Bradford County should choose one of its other options for the site. And the county should do nothing with the site until FDEP returns results of its contamination examination.

The meeting is 6:30 PM, Thursday, April 16, 2026, at the Bradford County Courthouse, 945 North Temple Avenue, Starke, Florida 32091.

[Lease and operating requirements added about Sheriff's ICE detention to agenda packet @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16]
Lease and operating requirements added about Sheriff’s ICE detention to agenda packet @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16

This item is still one of the “Reports” in the agenda, not marked ACTION. But the Commissioners could choose to vote on it anyway.

There is no comment by the county attorney in the agenda packet.

There’s also nothing on the agenda about any results of the FDEP contamination study they approved last time, March 7, 2026. That would have to take much longer than nine days, anyway.

As we pointed out last time, Starke has already had sewage spills, and increasing its population by 50% (3,000 inmates on top of 6,000 Starke residents) would risk more spills, on a site that sits between two creeks that go through Lakes Rowell and Sampson into the Sampson River to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers.

There is some verbiage about that in the lease, and in the “Mandatory Operational Requirements and Compliance Standards: Douglas Building Facility Transition”: Continue reading →

ICE detention center back with no alternatives @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16

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Update 2026-04-16: Lease and operating requirements added to Sheriff’s ICE detention agenda item @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16.

Despite two other options for use of the Douglas Building being discussed last time, only the ICE detention center is on the agenda for the Bradford County Commission tomorrow, 6:30 PM, Thursday, April 16, 2026. That’s at the Bradford County Courthouse, 945 North Temple Avenue, Starke, Florida 32091.

The board packet does not include the text of the proposed lease, nor any comment on it by the county attorney.

There’s also nothing on the agenda about any results of the FDEP contamination study they approved last time, March 7, 2026. That would have to take much longer than nine days, anyway.

According to Sheriff Gordon Smith‘s agenda item detail, such a detention center “would be capable of housing up to 3,000 detainees.” Remember the population of Starke is about 6,000. So that’s a 50% increase, plus ICE and other personnel.

As we pointed out last time, Starke has already had sewage spills, and increasing its population like that would risk more spills, on a site that sits between two creeks that go through Lakes Rowell and Sampson into the Sampson River to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers.

Bradford County should choose one of its other options for the site.

And the county should do nothing with the site until FDEP returns results of its contamination examination. Continue reading →

Georgia legislature fails to rein in datacenters –AJC 2026-04-03

If datacenters are so great, why can’t they pay their own way?

You’d think their billionaire backers could afford it.

For more about datacenters, including a petition, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

[Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026]
Possible Datacenter Sites, Lowndes County, GA, Irwin County, GA, 2025 and 2026

Drew Kann and Kristi E. Swartz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 3, 2026, Georgia lawmakers leave data center tax breaks intact, punt on energy costs
Consumer advocates call inaction ‘disgraceful,’ while Georgia Power and data center groups tout benefits they say the industry will bring Georgians.

When the General Assembly convened in January to begin its legislative session, few issues seemed to get more attention from lawmakers than data centers.

A flurry of data center bills emerged in the session’s early days, from moratoriums on new developments to measures aimed at the facilities’ energy infrastructure costs and rolling back the lucrative tax breaks the state offers to lure them to the Peach State.

But as the legislature adjourned in the wee hours of Friday morning, the robust debate that began beneath the Gold Dome earlier this year ended in relative silence, at least as far as data centers are concerned.

In the end, none of the legislation consumer advocates said was needed to protect Georgians from the onslaught of data centers successfully cleared both chambers.

Continue reading →

Site contamination investigation before discussion of lease as ICE detention facility @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-06

Update 2026-04-15: ICE detention center back with no alternatives @ Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-16.

The Bradford County Commission has two related items on its agenda for tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM, Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

In 5. Approval of the Consent Agenda:

  1. Site Access Agreement with Florida Department of Environmental Protection for monitoring of the “Douglas Building” Property — 14281 US Hwy 301 South, Starke, Florida.

Farther down the agenda:

  1. Discussion of “Douglas” Building Property Options
    1. Potential Lease with Bradford County Sheriff’s Office for the purpose of installation of a temporary ICE detainment facility.
    2. Other Lease or Marketing Options

[Site contamination investigation before discussion of lease as ICE detention facility, WWALS to Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-06]
Site contamination investigation before discussion of lease as ICE detention facility, WWALS to Bradford County BOCC 2026-04-06

We’ve sent them a letter suggesting they do nothing about leasing the site until the FDEP investigations have reported back. Continue reading →

Petition: Data Center Due Diligence 2026-03-31

We the undersigned insist on the following:

No datacenters without at least transparency, a datacenter ordinance, due diligence, public hearings, closed-loop cooling, siting away from waterbodies and neighborhoods, a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) study, and a bond in case of premature closing.

The petition:

https://c.org/9FndqzS4dq

[Petition, Lowndes County, GA: Data Center Due Diligence, Withlacoochee River, Mud Swamp Creek]
Petition, Lowndes County, GA: Data Center Due Diligence, Withlacoochee River, Mud Swamp Creek

  1. Local governments need to pass a moratorium on datacenter applications until they have a comprehensive datacenter ordinance.
  2. Local governments need to pass good data center ordinances before considering any application.
  3. Local governments need to do their due diligence, with independent third-party evidence, not just believe what data center companies tell them.
  4. Local governments need to initiate a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) study for any datacenter of sufficient size.
  5. State governments need to prohibit data centers and electric utilities from passing on power costs to other ratepayers.
  6. Local, state, and national governments need to stop passing tax rebates and other favoritism for an industry owned by billionaires.
  7. All needs to be with continual citizen input.
  8. With all the local business parks, no datacenter should be next to a waterbody or a neighborhood.

Everyone needs to consider that the so-called artificial intelligence (AI) industry may be a bubble and putting too many eggs in one basket for jobs and tax revenue is not prudent when the bubble may pop at any time.

For much more information, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenters

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Videos: Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance –Irwin County Board of Commissioners 2026-03-17

Update 2026-04-20 Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06.

Here are WWALS videos of the first Irwin County Commission Public Hearing about a Data Center Ordinance, on March 17, 2026.

The next Public Hearing will be March 30, 2026 at 5:45p.m in the Irwin County Courthouse, located at 301 South Irwin Avenue, Ocilla, Georgia.

The third and last Public Hearing will be April 6, 2026, before the Irwin County Commission meeting, presumably also at 5:45 PM and at the Courthouse.

[Videos: Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance --Irwin County BOCC, 2026-03-17]
Videos: Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance –Irwin County BOCC, 2026-03-17

Among the many good points brought up by citizens at the March 17 Public Hearing were the need for much more due diligence, tuning the ordinance to prevent specific harms, enforcement of the ordinance, as well as specific concerns of cost of wells, water levels, water quality, vegetative buffers, waste disposal, air quality, noise levels, wildlife, electric power, property values, agriculture, the Alapaha River, and limits on the size of any datacenters.

Despite a persistent rumor, the Irwin County Commission definitely did not vote on the previous datacenter application, because the applicant withdrew the application, so there was nothing to vote on.

See also Continue reading →

Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance –Irwin County Board of Commissioners 2026-03-17

Update 2026-04-20 Signed Irwin County Datacenter Ordinance 2026-04-06.

Update 2026-03-27: Videos: Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance –Irwin County Board of Commissioners 2026-03-17.

Irwin County is holding a Public Hearing about a Data Center Ordinance
tomorrow, March 17, 2026, at 6 PM,
in the Irwin County Administration Building, 225 East Fourth Street, Ocilla, Georgia.

[Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance, Irwin County BOC, 6 PM, March 17, 2026]
Public Hearing about Datacenter Ordinance, Irwin County BOC, 6 PM, March 17, 2026

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

https://wwals.net/?p=69660

Here is the Public Notice and the draft ordinance.

Linked in a popup on https://irwincounty-ga.gov:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The Irwin County Board of Commissioners will hold a Public Hearing on March 17, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Irwin County Administration Building, located at 225 East Fourth Street, Ocilla, Georgia and March 30, 2026 at 5:45p.m in the Irwin County Courthouse, located at 301 South Irwin Avenue, Ocilla, Georgia. The purpose of these hearings are to receive public comments regarding the following matter:

  • Review Data Center Ordinance
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 →

Datacenter: recommended approval –Irwin County Planning Commission 2026-02-26

Update 2026-03-02: Datacenter Special Exception Public Hearing @ Irwin County Commission 2026-03-02.

All four Planning Commissioners present voted to recommend approval of the proposed Special Exception for the Data Center near Irwinville, last Thursday, February 26, 2026.

[Datacenter: recommended approval, Irwin County Planning Commission, After many speakers, most against 2026-02-26]
Datacenter: recommended approval, Irwin County Planning Commission, After many speakers, most against 2026-02-26

The next stop is the Irwin County Commission, this Monday, March 2, 2026, at 5:45 PM, in the same location, the Irwin County Courthouse, 301 South Irwin Avenue, Ocilla, Ga. 31774.

After numerous people spoke against and a few for that item, IC-SE-01-2026, two of the members of the Ocilla-Irwin County Planning Advisory Commission spoke at length about what they had been told or read or saw on a visit to another datacenter, as why they were for it, plus the promise of $20 million a year in tax revenue.

None of that was in the extremely thin board packet. So thin that their staff, Jessica Harris, Irwin County Interim Chief Appraiser, said at the beginning of that item that staff had no recommendation for or against because there was not enough information to go on.

The other two Planning Commissioners said they were for tabling the item due to lack of information.

However, one of the two for the project, Chairman Alan Smith, moved for approval. The other one, Vice Chair Tara Smith, seconded. And the remaining two, Arlinda Murrell and Ms. Walker, reluctantly also raised their hands.

Questions not answered with any documentation continue to include who is the datacenter customer (Google?), where are the specifications for the closed loop cooling water system, and what would those 200-300 high-paying local permanent jobs be doing, that were advertised in the slides for Irwin Forward Tech Park.

The proposed location is on Ponderosa Drive, Irwinville, Georgia 31783, quite near the Alapaha River.

Below are links to each WWALS video of each speaker or topic, with a few notes by John S. Quarterman, followed by a WWALS video playlist.

Most speakers were against the special exception, except for the few noted as for or as part of or attorney for the applicant.

Apologies for any incorrect names. And Continue reading →