Ellijay Tightens Data Center Rules as County Puts $1.93 Million Into Clear Creek Road

The Ellijay City Council voted unanimously on Monday, July 20, to rewrite the city's data center rules, folding general data centers into ordinances that until now applied to cryptocurrency mining and data mining operations. The change matters to anyone who lives near land that could take one of these buildings: the amended rules govern how close a facility can sit to homes, how loud it can be at the property line, when its generators can run, and whether it can draw city water to cool its servers.

The vote came at the council's regular monthly meeting at City Hall, which followed workshops at 5:30 p.m. and started at 6.

What the rules cover

Ellijay already had a cryptomining and data center ordinance on the books from 2024. The 2026 amendments broaden the definition so that AI, cloud and high-performance computing facilities fall under the same chapter rather than slipping through as a different use.

The draft language that circulated publicly before the vote adds a new Section 20-4.24 built around distance, noise and water. Its provisions include:

• A 200-foot setback, plus a 100-foot buffer, where a facility abuts residential or A-1 zoned property.
• Generators restricted to emergency backup, with testing allowed during daytime hours only.
• Noise limits measured at the residential boundary, not at the center of the site.
• Cooling equipment required to be enclosed.
• Restrictions on using public water for hydro cooling.

Most of the 2024 standards carry forward with clarifications.

Why a city this size is writing server-farm law

Gilmer County has been through this once already. Local opposition to crypto mines here produced one of the earliest North Georgia crackdowns, and the activists who won that fight have since been advising communities elsewhere in the state.

The rest of Georgia has caught up fast. As of early June, 34 counties and 23 cities across the state had moratoriums, adopted ordinances or ordinances in progress, according to a statewide review of local data center rules. Roughly one in five Georgia counties now has one or is drafting one. Cleanview, a project tracker cited in that review, counts 17 data centers operating in Georgia and 83 planned. The largest proposals on the board run from 600 to 1,250 megawatts, several times the draw of the biggest facilities already running in the state.

Two Georgia cities have gone all the way to a ban. Ellijay did not. What the council adopted is a permitting framework with teeth on the specific things residents complain about: the hum, the diesel testing, the water bill.

Clear Creek Road: 6.85 miles, about $1.93 million

At the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday, July 16, the board voted unanimously to accept Northwest Georgia Paving's bid to repave Clear Creek Road for roughly $1.93 million. The job runs 6.85 miles, from Highway 52 East to Yukon Road. That works out to about $282,000 a mile.

The county advertised the work on June 16 and took sealed bids until 2 p.m. on July 9. The specification calls for 12.55 mm Superpave asphalt and requires the contractor to furnish labor, materials, equipment and tack, all built to Georgia Department of Transportation standards. The county reserved the right to split the award among multiple bidders. It did not; one contractor took the whole stretch.

Commissioners also voted at the same meeting to extend an existing county moratorium.

Next meetings

A start date for the Clear Creek Road work has not been announced, and drivers on that route should expect lane closures and flagging once crews mobilize. Commissioners meet next in work session at 9 a.m. Wednesday, August 12, and in regular session at 6 p.m. Thursday, August 13, both at the Gilmer County Community Center, 824 Industrial Boulevard. The Ellijay City Council returns Monday, August 17, with workshops at 5:30 p.m. and the council meeting at 6 at City Hall. Both bodies take public comment. Agendas are posted in advance on the county website and the city council page.

Follow the rest of our coverage at Ellijay Georgia Community Website, and read more government and politics stories or catch up on local business and development news. Got a take on the new data center rules, or a stretch of road you think should be next? Join the conversation in our Community Forum.

Header photo: Thomsonmg2000 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)