Spalding County, GA Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

Sec. 1403A(B)(8) makes data centers a special exception, not a by-right use, in the C-1C Manufacturing Light district (Article 14A), and it locks the use to a narrow footprint. Item a restricts data centers to sites within a planned commercial or industrial development, so a standalone data center outside one of those planned developments cannot use this pathway. Item b bars the use entirely from any S-2, S-3 or S-4 sensitive land protection district, the county's environmentally constrained overlay categories, and item c requires compliance with whatever additional overlay-district standards apply, including airport overlay restrictions.

The siting rules get specific about neighbors: item g sets a minimum building setback of 100 feet from any property line adjacent to a residential property for the principal data center building, dropping to a 50-foot minimum from property lines adjacent to nonresidential parcels. Item h layers a second buffer requirement on top of that setback, a minimum 50-foot-wide, berm-and-evergreen buffer between any power transfer station, generator or other appurtenance and adjacent residential property, subject to Community Development director approval of the buffer plan. Exterior walls facing roads or residential property must be at least 40 percent stone or masonry (item d), and all exterior lighting must be night-sky friendly (item e).

Together these standards mean a data center can only be approved after Community Development and, ultimately, the Board of Commissioners sign off on a special exception showing every one of these siting conditions is met.