EdgeConneX · Douglas County data center, Douglas County, Georgia

Douglas County commissioners voted 4-1 in July 2026 to reject EdgeConneX's plans for a 700-acre data center campus near Liberty Road and Interstate 20 outside Villa Rica, in Douglas County, Georgia, the second time in seven months they turned down a large data center on the property. District 1 Commissioner Henry Mitchell cast the only vote against denial, and the county's Planning and Zoning Commission had unanimously recommended against the plan.

The applicant, East Village Dothan LLC, asked to change the land from Rural Places to Commerce Center in the county's growth plan, rezone it from residential agriculture to a planned unit development, and get special use permits for a substation and buildings over 50,000 square feet. The campus would have held six buildings, by the Sentinel's count (other outlets reported five), totaling 4.4 million square feet on land bordered by I-20, the Clinton Nature Preserve and Liberty and Suddeth roads, with part of it inside Villa Rica and in the Dog River Basin, which feeds the county's main water source. When the project first surfaced, in a regional impact filing, it called for 11 data center buildings totaling 6.2 million square feet and four warehouses. EdgeConneX said more than 570 acres would stay green space, with the campus itself on about 130 acres. The developer's representatives promised 200 to 300 permanent jobs.

Planning and Zoning Manager Allison Duncan said the plan conflicted with the county's long-term growth plan and could hurt traffic, public safety, fire protection and water quality. “We do not feel that Commerce Center is compatible with the Dog River Basin character area,” she said, adding that staff believes the county risks overbuilding data centers. Unincorporated Douglas County already has about 2.5 million square feet of data center space in eight buildings, with 3.3 million more square feet being built and 3.1 million under review, not counting Douglasville.

Eileen Roberts of Post Road played commissioners a recording of industrial whirring: “That’s what a data center sounds like,” she said. “That’s 365 days a year, 24/7.” “At what point do we stop saying yes to every proposal and decide that preserving our community is more important than continuing to industrialize it for outsider profit?” asked Ashley Rencher of Chapel Hill Road. Supporters argued for the revenue: “This is a good thing for the county,” said Donald Vaughn, who has lived on Liberty Road for 40 years. EdgeConneX's Todd Workman said the company runs 90 data centers in 20 countries: “Yeah, we’re going to generate a lot of tax revenue,” he said. The developer's attorney, Anamaria Meanes, asked for a deferral to address residents' concerns; commissioners voted instead.

The fight is part of a wider one in west Georgia, following data center protests in neighboring Paulding and Haralson counties and an extended data center moratorium in Carroll County. EdgeConneX, founded in 2009 and owned by EQT, has partnered with TA Realty on a 324-megawatt campus in Atlanta.

The land stays zoned residential agriculture, and any new try would need the Douglas County Board of Commissioners to change both the growth plan and the zoning. No new application or appeal has been filed since the July 2026 vote.