Bartow County, GA Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)
Key Facts
- Max building height
- 75 feet from structure pad
- Yard setback
- 50 feet front, side, rear
- Minimum lot size
- 50 acres
- Minimum lot frontage/width
- 110 feet each
- First-offense fine
- $300 under § 13.3
- Enforcing office
- Bartow County Community Development
Summary
Unincorporated Bartow County allows data centers as a use with its own zoning standards under the county Zoning Ordinance. Buildings are capped at 75 feet in height, and every data center site must meet a 50-foot yard setback on all sides plus minimum lot, frontage and buffer requirements before Community Development will issue a building permit.
Data center: Commercial activity center associated with technology, information systems, data infrastructure, data hosting and management activities, and similar new information age uses such as data processing, storage, and related services. Structures and land may be used for uses customarily incidental to the primary permitted use. The following development standards shall apply: 1.Buildings shall not exceed a height of seventy-five (75) feet, measured from structure pad level. Height limitations shall not apply to accessory structures such as water towers, conveyer belts, smokestacks and other incidental and uninhabited parts of industrial uses.2.Front, Side, and Rear yard setback: Fifty (50) feet.3.Minimum lot frontage: One hundred ten (110) feet adjoining a street.4.Minimum lot width at building line: One hundred ten (110) feet.5.Minimum lot acreage: Fifty (50) acres.6.Minimum buffer requirements. In addition to required setbacks, buffers shall be required in accordance with the applicable zoning district.
Full Breakdown
The Bartow County Zoning Ordinance, printed as Appendix A to the county code, treats a data center as a defined commercial use subject to its own development standards rather than the district's general dimensional table. 2, principal data center buildings cannot exceed 75 feet in height measured from the structure pad, though the cap does not apply to accessory structures such as water towers, conveyer belts or smokestacks. Every side of the lot carries a 50-foot front, side and rear yard setback, and the site must have a minimum of 110 feet of lot frontage and 110 feet of lot width at the building line.
A data center tract must total at least 50 acres, and buffers are required on top of the setbacks based on the applicable zoning district. HVAC and air conditioning equipment must be screened from the public right-of-way and adjoining properties with walls, fencing, roof elements or landscaping unless it sits more than 100 feet from the property line, and the principal building's front facade must face the street unless it is more than 500 feet from or not visible from the right-of-way. Security fencing outside the required setback and buffer is exempt from the county's normal fence height limits, and guard houses and secured entry features are allowed at public road entrances despite other code provisions.
Applications go through Bartow County Community Development, which administers the Zoning Ordinance under the Zoning Administrator. Because the standards sit in the definitions article rather than a specific zoning district, they apply to a data center use wherever the underlying district otherwise allows it.
Violations & Fines
Bartow County enforces the Zoning Ordinance through the Zoning Administrator and code enforcement staff under § 13.2, who may issue criminal citations in magistrate court or seek civil fines and injunctive relief in superior court. A first violation of any article other than Article VI carries a mandatory $300 fine, a second violation is $500, and a third or later violation is $1,000, with each day of noncompliance counted as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a data center be built anywhere in unincorporated Bartow County?
Do the setback rules apply to accessory equipment like water towers?
What happens if a data center violates the siting standards?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bartow County
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