Chatham County has now done what its 7th District commissioner was only proposing in late August: it has formally paused large-scale data center development while officials study what permanent rules should govern it.
On September 11, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners approved a 155-day moratorium covering unincorporated parts of the county. The measure applies to data centers with an electrical capacity of at least 10 megawatts and restricts the conversion of warehouses and industrial spaces for data center use. District 7 Commissioner Dean Kicklighter had initially proposed a 12-month pause, but the adopted measure was shortened to 155 days.
The timing also changes the regional picture from the one in the original proposal. Savannah did not wait until after Chatham acted. Savannah City Council voted on August 27 to approve its own 155-day moratorium on large-scale data centers within city limits, including facilities of 10 megawatts or more and certain large industrial-building conversions.
Part of a regional pattern, not a one-off
Chatham and Savannah are not acting in isolation. Temporary data center moratoria have become a common way for local governments to create a window in which planners can define the use, study infrastructure demands and decide what standards should apply before additional applications move forward…