New rules regulate data center operation within city limits
Ellijay City Council members voted unanimously for changes to the city’s ordinances to regulate data centers in their meeting on Monday, July 20.
The changes modify Ellijay’s existing cryptocurrency mining center and data mining center regulations to include data centers.
While Ellijay’s laws don’t ban data centers, cryptocurrency mining centers and data mining centers, they put many regulations on them. All buildings of these kinds in Ellijay must obey noise, zoning, heat, power and safety regulations.
However, current county rules mean that Ellijay’s laws will only come into effect if Georgia makes full data center bans illegal.
In 2024, the Gilmer County Commissioners banned data mining and cryptocurrency mining. In 2025, they added data centers to this list.
As investment in artificial intelligence skyrockets, the companies that make it have been searching for more land, electricity and water to build data centers.
To train an artificial intelligence, companies must feed massive amounts of data through specialized computer chips. This activity takes place in data centers.
For the communities that have them, data centers can be an annoyance to neighbors. Between generators, fans and cooling centers, they emit a loud, unceasing hum.
Cryptocurrency mining centers and data mining centers also use electricity and water to create digital wealth, creating heat and noise as a byproduct.
These kinds of buildings can also give local governments a consistent source of tax revenue.
Because of all these factors, companies have increasingly built these facilities in rural areas.
According to the Data Center Map, Georgia currently has 230 data centers. The state offers centers both sales and use tax exemptions.
Gilmer County isn’t alone in its opposition to the creation of data centers.
Many communities have opposed this decision.
According to Data Center Watch, $64 billion of data center projects have been blocked or delayed due to local opposition.
Resistance to the new buildings is bipartisan.
The city council members also voted unanimously for the landscaping firm of WLA Studio to design the planned City Trail Park.